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ROLL MANUAL 



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JESSIE ELEANOR MOORE 

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Class 
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COPYRIGHT DEPOSfH 




MOTHER AND BABY 



THE 

Cradle Roll Manual 

For Superintendents of Cradle Roll Departments 

and Others Interested in or Responsible 

for Cradle Roll Activities 



By 

JESSIE ELEANOR MOORE 



Edited by 

HENRY H. MEYER and E. B. CHAPPELL 



THE METHODIST BOOK CONCERN 
NEW YORK CINCINNATI 

SMITH & LAMAR 

Nashville, Tenn. Dallas, Tex. Richmond, Va. 






Copyright, 1921, by 
JESSIE ELEANOR MOORE 

[iNTER-METHODIST 
SERIES] 



©GU653465 
DEC 27 1921 

Printed in the United States of America. 
-V\0 I 



TO 
MY MOTHER 



CONTENTS 

CHAPTER PAGE 

Our Mothers' Circle Creed 9 

Introduction 11 

I. The Rights op the Very Little Child 13 

II. The Beginnings of Character Building 28 

III. The Essentials of Christian Motherhood 38 

IV. Baby's Toys 44 

V. Organization and Equipment 54 

VI. Maintaining the Interest 62 

VII. The Cradle Roll in the Church School 71 

VIII. Nursery — Morning Worship or Church School 

Hour 81 

IX. The Parents' Class at the Church School Hour 85 

X. Mothers' Meetings 89 

XI. Helpful Agencies 97 

XII. Other Cradle Roll Superintendents at Work. . 104 

Bibliography Ill 



i 



ILLUSTRATIONS 



Mother and Baby Frontispiece 

FACING PAGB 

Home-made Scrapbook 52 

Adjustable Frame (back) 57 

Cradle Roll 58 

Stocking Dolls 67 

Music 

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A Mother's Hymn 8 



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3. Let thy bo - ly coun - Bel lead me, Let thy light be • fore me 



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Teach me of thy ways, Fa • ther, For sweet childhood 1 
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In their yonng hearts, soft and ten - der, Guide my hand good seed to sow, 
Fa -ther, or - der all my foot-steps; So di - rect my dai - ly way, 
Draw us hand in baud to Je - bus, For his word's sake, nn - for - got, — 



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That its bios - som - ing may praise thee Where so - e'er they go. 

That in fol - lowing mo, the chil -dren..May not go a - stray. 

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Copyright, 1901, by E. M. Fergusson. Used by permission. 



OUR MOTHERS' CIRCLE CREED 

I believe in little children as the most precious gift of 
heaven to earth. 

I believe they have immortal souls created in the image 
of God, coming forth from him, and to return to him. 

I believe that in every child there are infinite possibilities 
for good or evil, and that the kind of influences with which 
we surround their childhood largely determines their future 
character. 

I believe in play as the child's normal effort to under- 
stand himself through free expression. 

I believe too in work suitable to childhood, and that the 
joy in doing such work should come to the child largely 
from the doing of it well. 

I believe in freedom, but not in license. 

I believe in wisely directing rather than stifling activity. 

I believe in regularity, accuracy, punctuality, industry, 
and application. 

I believe in prompt, cheerful obedience, self-control, and 
self-forgetfulness. 

I believe in inspiring the child to choose the good, the 
true, and the beautiful, and to contribute to the happiness 
of others by word and deed and gift. 

I believe that in all these things my example counts for 
more than my precept. 

I believe in cultivating the intellect and the will, but I 
believe too in soul culture, and that out of this cultivation 
comes the more abundant life, bringing forth the fruits of 
the Spirit, kindness, gentleness, joy, peace, truth, hope, 
faith, love, reverence for God, respect for age, consideration 
for each other, and thoughtfulness for all of God's lowly 
creatures. 

9 



10 



OUR MOTHERS' CIRCLE CREED 



I believe that the calling of motherhood is the holiest 
and should be the happiest of all earth's tasks. 

I believe that the Christ, who was himself a child born of 
a human mother, is the one never-failing source of help for 
perplexed, discouraged, or wearied motherhood. 

Since to this work, Father, thou hast called me, help me 
to give to it all that thou hast given me of insight and 
wisdom and strength and gentleness and patience and for- 
getfulness. 



Arranged from the Kindergartners* Creed and adopted by The Mothers' 
Association of Bound Brook, New Jersey, and the Mothers' Association. Lewis 
Avenue Congregational Church, Brooklyn, New York. 



INTRODUCTION 

When the first Cradle Roll was started by a far-visioned 
primary teacher nearly fifty years ago, it seemed to many 
people to be a foolish addition to the machinery of the 
church. Others saw in it an open sesame to the hearts of 
the parents, and appreciated it solely because it offered a 
key to homes which probably would otherwise be closed 
to religious influences. There were some even a half 
century ago who believed that the religious training of a 
child begins when he is still in his cradle, and who hoped 
through the Cradle Roll to be able to throw the uplifting 
arm of the church around mother and father and child in 
order that through this influence a Christian atmosphere 
might be created for the child in the home. 

More and more fully, educators are coming to understand 
the importance of infancy as a formative period. Because 
of the great plasticity of the infant it is inevitable that 
habits shall be formed. "It is affected by all that happens 
to it, and something is happening every minute of the day. 
The environment of the young child is one of the most 
important influences in its education. Because of the force 
of reflex imitation working with this factor of plasticity the 
emotional attitudes of those by whom he is surrounded 
leave their impress upon the child before he has lived 
thirty months. His disposition is being formed; he is 
becoming irritable, quick-tempered, moody, or sunny and 
cheerful, just which, however, being determined to a larger 
extent than people realize by the natures of the adults sur- 
rounding him — and all this unconscious to himself, simply 
as a result of the modifiability of his neurones. In the 
field of morals and manners the same element makes itself 
felt. The old adage — 'Let a child run until he is six and 

11 



12 INTRODUCTION 

you never catch him* — is a recognition of the far-reaching 
effects of the habits formed in this period." * 

This book has been prepared as a handbook for the 
Cradle Roll superintendent, but because of the importance 
of infancy as a period of training, the manual in its intro- 
ductory chapters deals with topics that will enable the 
worker in this field to look beyond the mechanical details 
of her task and see the opportunity and responsibility that 
come to her through sympathetic contact with the mothers 
of the youngest children. While this is primarily a manual 
for Cradle Roll superintendents and visitors it would be 
a mistake to limit its use to such individual study. It 
might well be used by groups of Cradle Roll workers in 
community schools. In the text will be found abundant 
references for additional study material which broaden the 
scope of the book, and questions that will stimulate thought 
and discussion. 

The writer of the book is a graduate of Teachers College, 
Columbia University, and therefore well grounded in theory. 
Her peculiar fitness for this task is further shown in the 
fact that she has, for many years, been a teacher of begin- 
ners and Cradle Roll classes in the Sunday school and has 
always maintained the closest relations with the homes 
both of the little ones in her classes and of the babies on 
her Cradle Roll. 

The Editors. 



1 Psychology of Childhood, Norsworthy and Whitley. 



CHAPTER I 

THE RIGHTS OF THE VERY LITTLE CHILD 

When a thoughtful child was asked one day why a cer- 
tain tree in the garden was so crooked, he responded that 
he "s'posed somebody must have stepped on it when it was 
a little fellow." . . . Not trees alone are bent and twisted 
in their growing by carelessness and ignorance, and many 
a distorted human life attests the truth of the child's say- 
ing. — Nora Archibald Smith. 1 

The pages of history reveal one long, continuous struggle 

of man for his rights. Sometimes it has been fought with 

I the sword, sometimes with the pen, sometimes with the 

tongue, but always from the beginning of time it has been 

fought. 

What a contrast when we turn those same pages of 
history in search of the record of the struggle of the child 
for his rights! Almost all of the story is told in the last 
two hundred and fifty years. Comenius was the first educa- 
tor who even suggested that the time spent at the mother's 
knee might be made valuable, but at that time the interest 
was largely religious. The child must be given his rights, 
he claimed, not because he was a human being but because 
he had a soul to save. It is doubtful if this religious 
interest would have accomplished much for the young child 
if society had not at this time literally been forced to give 
him consideration. The changing industrial conditions 
removed the manufacturing processes from the home, and 
the mother soon followed, leaving her children uncared for. 
Physical care and education for the child under school 
age became more than an interest; it became a necessity. 

1 Children of the Future, Houghton Mifflin Company. 

13 



14 THE CRADLE ROLL MANUAL 

To-day it is conceded that every little child has rights, 
not only because he has within him a spark of the divine 
but just because he is a member of the great human family. 
But as we look at the children growing up about us we are 
often inclined to be pessimistic concerning the progress 
which these human beings, so silent and overawed, so little 
and so bewildered amid this rushing world, are making 
toward the realization of these same rights. There seems 
to be no standard. The little child is a creature of cir- 
cumstances. 

The right to be well born. There is a vast amount of 
superstition in the popular mind concerning heredity and 
prenatal influence. The ways of nature are not capricious. 
Once we discover the laws underlying them we may live 
better, and the superstitions which grow in the soil of 
ignorance may be cast into the mental waste basket. 

It is the tendency of nature to revert to a healthy type. 
The deformities and diseases acquired in life are not, for 
the most part, passed on to the next generation. These 
ailments affect only the body cells. There are two distinct 
types of cells, those making up the somatoplasm, or body 
substance, and those which form the germ plasm, the 
hereditary substance. Germ cells are not descended from 
body cells and have no means of transmitting body modifi- 
cations. They are, rather, like guests in the body and lead 
a separate life. In the development of the embryo the 
productive cells are formed almost at the beginning, so 
that the germ plasm is continuous from generation to gen- 
eration. Thus nature early sets aside these cells to carry 
on the primitive ancestry. Dr. Woods Hutchinson says 
that "ninety per cent of the characteristics of your child 
date back at least to the Norman conquest or the wars of 
Charlemagne and your personal contribution to any influ- 
ence upon his heredity is probably less than five per cent, 
which is a humiliating but perhaps a consoling reflection." * 

Because all this is true the parents need not think that 

1 We and Our Children, Doubleday, Page & Co. 



THE RIGHTS OF THE VERY LITTLE CHILD 15 

their influence upon the child is of little importance and 
lay the blame for degeneration and weakness upon the 
grandparents of generations past. A tendency, good or 
evil, is strengthened by uniting with a person having the 
same tendency, and that is a rule from which there is no 
escape. Moreover, weaknesses are not neutralized by 
mating with normality but are merely concealed in the first 
generation and again appear in the second. This is proved 
by the Mendelian law of inheritance, but for a discussion 
of this there is not space here. The marriage of blood 
relations is often viewed with gloomy forebodings. The 
union of two cells, having the same characteristics, gives 
to the individual thus formed those characteristics in a 
marked degree. But inbreeding cannot create defects, it 
only brings to the surface hidden or recessive tendencies. 
In the same way continual crossing hides certain tendencies 
but cannot exterminate them. 

Years of untiring experimentation with the breeding pen 
and the painstaking keeping of records of both animals and 
humans has quite perceptibly reduced the number of dis- 
eases which scientists declare are hereditary. The extent 

I to which nature can keep the coming life in a watertight 
compartment, shut off from the rest of the body fluids and 

i tissues, is marvelous. No forms of heart disease should 
be considered bars to parenthood. Kidney trouble is only 
serious for the mother. The child of tubercular descent is 
not born with the germs present, but on account of the 
ravages of the disease the parents have handed to their off- 
spring a weakened vitality with which to combat any dis- 
ease, but especially the one in question. The tubercular 
condition has subtracted something from the sum of their 
physical assets and they can bequeath no more than they 
possess. The forms of disease degeneration which are 
most important with reference to hereditary influence are 
anemia, not to be confused with that of adolescence which 
is temporary and curable, obesity, and diabetes. Color 
blindness and haemophilia, or the "bleeding disease," a con- 



16 THE CRADLE ROLL MANUAL 

dition which renders the individual subject to severe and 
often fatal hemorrhage because the blood fails to clot prop- 
erly, belong to the group of inheritances called sex-linked. 
That is, females are not often afflicted, but an apparently- 
normal woman passes on the defect from her father to her 
son. If a woman is effected, the disease must be present 
in both father and mother. 

Reduced to lowest terms the influences which harmfully 
effect the child previous to birth are only four: 

First. Serious physical injuries due to violent accident. 

Second. Starvation as the result of poor maternal health, 
lack of nutrition, overwork, fatigue, worry, excitement, or 
poverty. 

Third. Deleterious habits such as alcoholism and drug 
taking, both of which may result in feeble-minded and 
degenerate children. 

Fourth. Infections, for the most part the result of 
venereal disease. Gonorrhoea is responsible for most of the 
blindness of infants, and syphilis, a disease of the blood, is 
so insidious in its effects that it can be carried even to the 
second generation. These two rank among the first five on 
the scale of fatality for all known diseases. Lead poisoning, 
a vocational disease, must be added here, for it can cause 
degeneration in the offspring, if not death, either before or 
shortly after birth. To quote Doctor Hutchinson again: 
"If you have avoided chronic starvation, alcohol to the 
point of saturation, and the race plague, you may face the 
future of your children with a conscience fairly clear of 
misgivings as to any handicaps they may have inherited 
from you." x In view of all the present-day propaganda on 
the subject of eugenics it is not necessary to add that a 
parent neurotic, insane, epileptic, or feeble-minded will 
produce some children likewise afflicted. 

Children are deficient or malformed because of the lack 
of the development of the embryonic cell. Malformations 
which are supposed to result from the sight, during preg- 

1 We and Our Children, Doubleday, Page & Co. 



THE RIGHTS OF THE VERY LITTLE CHILD 17 

i 

nancy, of monstrosities or deformities in either animals or 
humans are physiologically impossible. The entire struc- 
ture and all external organs are well formed in the embryo 
by the time the first eight to twelve weeks of gestation have 
elapsed. By careful questioning it may be determined that 
the fright, when such is said to have occurred, almost 
invariably took place much later. Prenatal influences are 
mainly nutritive. The embryo from the beginning is a 
distinct being, manufacturing its own protoplasm from 
food material and oxygen received by a process of soakage 
through the walls of the capillary blood vessels in the 
placenta. Not a nerve fiber, not a strand of protoplasm, not 
a blood vessel passes over from mother to child. This 
entirely discredits the popular belief in maternal impres- 
sions. If it were possible, by a single impression on the 
mother's mind, to give any enduring character to the child's 
body or mind, why should it not be possible to direct such 
influences toward the good as well as the evil? For example, 
how easy it would be to make a musician by allowing the 
mother to hear one burst of exquisite music. However, this 
much may be said. Other things being equal, a cheerful 
habit of mind means a tranquil^ normal, healthy baby. The 
power for normal growth and development is the birthright 
of these little ones who do not ask to come. Woe unto him 
who passes on a stained inheritance to an innocent little 
sufferer. 

The right to live. This nation is still living dangerously 
near the poverty line as far as its children are concerned. 
The campaign for better babies during recent years has 
; reduced the rate of infant mortality one-half, but even with 
I all the attempts to educate the public mind, at least one- 
i fifth of the children born in America die before they cele- 
brate their first birthday. Such mortality among domestic 
I animals would immediately call for congressional and legis- 
lative commissions to investigate the causes and propose 
means for a remedy. Animals are bred for profit and use, 
'but children, apparently, are not so important. 

i 



18 THE CRADLE ROLL MANUAL 






The records of the Department of Medical Inspection 
in the Public Schools show some startling figures concern- 
ing those who do live to school age. Ten per cent suffer 
from malnutrition, fifty per cent from defective teeth, ten 
per cent from adenoids and enlarged tonsils, fifty per cent 
are infected with tuberculosis, twenty per cent have defec- 
tive vision, five per cent have defective hearing and five per 
cent spinal curvature. These defects are of such a nature 
that we cannot blame heredity. As a thing is begun, so it 
remains, and these beginnings of ill health were not in the 
germ plasm but originated, for the most part, during 
infancy. 

The present-day tendency is toward preventive medicine. 
Some time perhaps we will follow the custom of the 
Chinese and pay our doctors by the year to keep us well, 
the doctor suffering the penalty for illness in the family 
by the loss of salary. The word "prevention" should be 
emblazoned on every nursery wall. 

Prevent ill health, first by proper food. Of every thirteen 
babies fed on mother's milk, only one dies, while of those 
fed on artificial food the ratio is one from every two. For 
the period after weaning there is help and expert advice 
on every side if the mother will but reach out her hand. 
The magazines publish articles innumerable on baby feed- 
ing, the government issues free bulletins, the libraries are 
full of helpful books, every large city has its clinics. Pov- 
erty cannot be entirely blamed for malnutrition in children. 
It exists quite as often among the children of the rich. 
Authorities say that the problem is only one-third economic 
and two-thirds educational. Insufficiency of food is one 
cause, but most of the cases are the result of disturbances 
of the digestive processes due to food improperly chosen or 
unsuitably prepared. Ignorance and carelessness are the 
greatest sinners. 

In this day when the germ theory is so well understood 
it is only necessary to mention cleanliness as a factor in 
protecting baby's health. 



THE RIGHTS OF THE VERY LITTLE CHILD 19 

Common sense decrees that clothing shall provide proper 
covering and warmth and yet make possible freedom of 
movement. The much trimmed and furbelowed dress has 
given place to the sleeping bag. 

The sleeping bag suggests another factor in conserving 
baby's health. Our ideas concerning air have changed. The 
night air is no longer poisonous and we sleep with the 
windows open. We no longer feel afraid of a draught, for a 
certain amount of moving air is essential. An air bath, 
a period of kicking, unhampered by clothing, is a part of 
every baby's daily program and is just as necessary as his 
water bath. 

Health and mental development are ever hand in hand. A 
wholesome environment where this development may take 
place has, for the young child, two requirements — rest and 
activity. These are not as contradictory as they seem. Rest 
means a simplicity of life with entire lack of excitement, 
especially as produced by people. The activity should be 
self activity aided by plenty of simple materials for play 
and not the overstimulation of constant amusement. 

The right to be understood. The phrase "little man" 
may pass as a term of endearment and would be useful in 
child training if it might always serve to remind us of 
what the child is not. Much of the mismanagement and 
misunderstanding of child life is due to the fallacious 
theory that the child is a pocket-size edition of an adult. 
He is small but he is not only less but different. He is dif- 
ferent physically, both in his anatomical proportions and 
his physiological processes. His psychical traits are differ- 
ent; he does not think the same way; his motives, interests, 
emotions, and methods of expression are totally unlike 
those of an adult. 

In order to be successful in any project in human life 
from high finance to raising hens, a background of knowl- 
edge is necessary. Surely, the little child is worthy of the 
same care and attention as a commercial product. If you 
take to raising hogs, the government beseeches you to 



20 THE CRADLE ROLL MANUAL 

partake of the knowledge and experience of their experts. 
You avail yourself of this aid in order to raise better 
hogs. In this century of the child there are reams of help- 
ful literature and hundreds of experts, but this important 
business of humanity is carried on with little serious 
study. For the science of the child's physical growth and 
the general characteristics of mental development there 
are the psychologies. Add to these the fascinating child 
study books written in lighter vein. But paper and ink 
can only describe that average being "The Child." Test 
the statements made by observation of real flesh and blood 
children — your own and the neighbors'. 

If we grown-ups could only remember, how much it 
would help! But it is so very long ago since we were in the 
world the children know and we have forgotten. Now and 
then a writer with a rare stroke of genius enters into a 
child's heart and with his pen makes us see things with 
a child's eyes. Such a one is Robert Louis Stevenson in 
his essay on "Child's Play" and Samuel Crothers in "The 
Ignominy of Being Grown Up." 

We cannot guide and train unless we understand, we 
cannot understand unless we live a little child's life with 
him and look out on the world through his eyes. The 
angle of vision makes a great difference in the way things 
seem. When one's eyes are only two feet ten inches from 
the ground a different set of objects claim the attention. 
When one's large muscles ache for exercise a fence becomes 
something to climb on and not a mere means of keeping 
the cows out of the garden. When one has just discovered 
that he has a mouth, of course, everything must be thrust 
into it. When one has just learned a new method of loco- 
motion, it differs not whether it be by motor or hands and 
knees, he is always on the road. The task of entering 
sympathetically into a life in order to understand lifts the 
task of child training beyond the human and makes it 
divine, for so the Master entered into human life — that he 
might understand. 



THE RIGHTS OF THE VERY LITTLE CHILD 21 

The right to liberty. The instincts of a child are God- 
ordained laws and have a purpose. Nature says, "Wriggle 
and twist, kick and climb, creep and run." So the body 
grows and the control of the muscles becomes perfect. 
The adults of the household say, "Don't," "Keep still." 
Luckily for the present health and future welfare of the 
child, the words do not make much impression. But the 
constant attempt at repression leads first to irritability and 
nervousness in the child and then to friction between parent 
and child. The God-given impulse to activity urges him 
toward self-assertion and opposition, with the result that 
there is real unhappiness and a sense of alienation, and 
the end of all is a weakened will. 

Comenius goes so far as to say that "almost any kind of 
activity is better than no activity." But liberty does not 

i mean entire lack of control. There are two ways to 

■ eliminate that word "Don't" — first, by substituting guid- 
ance for repression and, second, by setting the stage for 

I the child's activities. Mischief is simply misdirected 
activity. Baby loves to tear paper, and he cannot know 
that the object which he holds in his hand is the latest 
number of grandpa's favorite magazine. One does not 
have to say that objectionable little word when taking it 
from those busy fingers. Just substitute a piece of wrap- 
ping paper. If baby "mustn't touch" mother's best blue 
vase, then mother's best blue vase must not ornament the 
low shelf of the library table. 

Dorothy Canfield Fisher, 1 that genius for child study, 
tells the following story about her washerwoman: "When 
the first of my neighbor's children was a little over three, 
his mother found him, one hot Tuesday, busily employed 

1 'folding up,' that is, crumpling and crushing the fresh 
shirtwaists, which she had just laboriously ironed smooth. 
She snatched them away from him, as any one of us would 
have done, but she was nimble-witted enough to view the 
situation from an impersonal point of view, which few of 

l A Montes8ori Mother, Henry Holt. 



22 THE CRADLE ROLL MANUAL 

us would have adopted. She really 'observed* the child, to 
use the Montessori phrase; she put out of her mind with 
a conscious effort her natural extreme irritation at 
having the work of hours destroyed in minutes, and she 
turned her quick mind to an analysis of the child's action, 
as acute and sound as any Roman psychologist has ever 
made. Not that she was in the least conscious of going 
through this elaborate mental process. Her own simple 
narrative of what followed runs: 'I snatched 'em away 
from him and I was as mad as a hornit for a minit or two. 
And then I got to thinkin' about it. I says to myself: "He's 
so little that 'tain't nothin' to him whether shirtwaists are 
smooth or wrinkled, so he couldn't have taken no satisfac- 
tion in bein' mischievous. Seem's though he was wantin' 
to fold up things, without really sensin' what he was doin' 
it with. He's seen me fold things up. There's other things 
than shirtwaists he could fold, that wouldn't do no harm 
for him to fuss with." And I set the iron down and took 
a dish towel out'n the basket and says to him, where he 
set cryin', "Here, Buddy, here's somethin' you can fold up." 
And he set there for an hour by the clock, foldin' and 
unfoldin' that thing.' " Have plenty of things for those 
restless, itching fingers to investigate and then give baby 
his freedom. 

The right to a place of his own. There must be some 
spot in all this giddy, whirling world where the little 
stranger may have surroundings that fit his size and 
interests. One must imagine oneself suddenly carried 
away to a giant's castle, where the mantle would seem to 
him as far away as the top of a New York sky-scraper, 
where one could climb up into a chair only by expenditure 
of great effort and then must sit with his feet straight out 
in front, and where, in order to get a peep out of doors, 
one must stand on the tiptoes, to appreciate baby's feelings. 

We grown-ups are glad to escape "from the madding 
crowd" and the complexities of modern life occasionally. 
But suppose that every one of your five senses were reg- 



THE RIGHTS OF THE VERY LITTLE CHILD 23 

istering a new sensation every second? The limitation of 
a pen, a corner, or a room of one's own where one may 
suck one's clothespin and clasp one's rubber doll in un- 
interrupted peace for an hour or so has a soothing effect. 
There is absolute need for a simple life both physiolog- 
ically and psychologically. If mothers realized the im- 
portance of such surroundings, there would be fewer cases 
of "nerves" among adults. 

The right to his babyhood. A fine manhood or 
womanhood can be built on no other foundation than a 
full, healthy, happy childhood. Our plan of existence is 
feverishly complicated, and without realizing it we drag 
the babies along with us. We are too impatient to wait for 
nature. It might be well to appropriate a few of the red 
signs placed along the roads to warn the heedless motorist 
and place them above the nursery doors. Every step for- 
ward in the baby's development depends upon the full use 
of his powers during the preceding stage. For the best 
results — "Run slow." Creeping strengthens the leg 
muscles so it physiologically prepares for walking. Creep- 
ing also enlarges the baby's environment and broadens his 
interests so there is a psychological factor in the necessity 
for a better means of locomotion. Yet many mothers 
foolishly boast because their children have skipped a 
whole step in their development. 

Later we force the simplicity of childhood to artificial 
standards and grown-up customs, forgetful that mud pies, 
grubby hands, and rag dolls cannot be omitted from the 
great school of life's experience without an unredeemable 
loss to the little student. 

The right to happiness. Now that a century and a 
half has rolled away and we are living in the new era of 
childhood, it is impossible to realize how daring was 
Rousseau as he proclaimed the prophecy of the new day. 
"Is it nothing to be happy," he wrote in his Emile, "to 
skip, play and run? Never in all his life will he be as 
happy as now." It was a powerful blow in that day, when 



24 THE CRADLE ROLL MANUAL 

childhood was looked upon as a case of measles — some- 
thing to be tolerated and gotten through with as soon as 
possible. 

But happiness means more to the little child than mere 
joyousness. Comenius, in that quaint little book of his, 
The School of Infancy, which is so full of common sense 
that it deserves study even to-day, speaks of the "value of 
delights." That value is not just an effervescence of good 
spirits. Good health, physical growth, mental and spiritual 
development can be built, stone upon stone, only upon the 
foundation of happiness. 

The right to justice in discipline. The usual attitude 
of an adult toward a child is one of absolute possession. 
He feels that his judgment is quite infallible and that he 
has unlimited right to say, "This is the way." It is very 
easy to over indulge the habit of command and add, "Walk 
ye in it." Patterson Du Bois says that there is "a greater 
desire to be thorough in the practice of punishing than in 
the science." * One may practice any art by a rule of 
thumb method but true knowledge of the science on which 
the art is based involves study. 

"Parents regard their children with all sorts of feelings, 
with love, of course, with indulgence, with amusement and 
even, so it is said, with self complacency and admiration; 
but it sometimes seems as if very few regard them with 
respect," says Ernest Abbott. "No one who respects 
another will lie to him, or visit him with empty threats, 
or make vain promises. Yet fathers and mothers in all 
parts of the country are at this moment lying to their 
children, threatening them with punishments they do not 
mean to inflict and making promises they do not intend 
to fulfill. The secret of respect for a child lies in regarding 
him as a human being." 2 

The right to his race inheritance. It is a long road 
which the race has traveled in reaching the present stage 

i Fireside Child Study, Dodd, Mead & Co. 

2 The Training of Parents, Houghton Mifflin Company. 



THE RIGHTS OF THE VERY LITTLE CHILD 25 

of development. The infant comes into the world, not only 
with entire ignorance of all these achievements but so 
helpless that even his body holds him in subjection. His 
stock in trade at the very beginning is simply a capacity 
for learning. His senses are acute, and knowledge demands 
admittance to the busy little brain through five gates swung 
wide — through his eyes, his ears, his nose, his fingertips, his 
tongue it comes. His muscles crave exercise and as he repeats 
an activity again and again and yet again those muscles 
become skillful. His soul craves a center for the organiza- 
tion of his thought. If to his searching questions he is not 
given the answer "God," he will create a religion for him- 
self. Because he is born into the world a human being he 
is heir to all the possessions of the race. His path to the 
present-day achievements in knowledge, skill, and religion 
will be shorter and far easier because of what the race has 
accomplished. 

"Time enough to begin to teach the child when he goes 
to school," we say. That is only because we are so dull of 
mind that we do not recognize the faint beginnings of 
knowledge. "When a toddler finds his way from the nursery 
to the kitchen," says Comenius, "he is beginning geog- 
raphy." He cannot explain the laws of physics, but when 
he drops his ball from his carriage he knows well enough 
where to look for it. His insistent repetition of gibberish 
is based on the laws of rhythm — the same laws that hold 
sway in the land of poetry and music. How clumsy he is 
with the scissors! but he must cut a newspaper into shreds 
and scatter it over the floor if he is ever to learn how to 
cut a dress from a pattern. Does he grow silent and 
round-eyed before a beautiful flower? He is often wor- 
shiping the Creator more truly than those who kneel in 
the dim cathedral. We have been wasteful of these baby 
days. Curiosity and persistent activity reveal the child's 
claim to his right to the threefold inheritance of knowl- 
edge, of skill, of religion which awaits him. 

The right to the chief place in the kingdom. It is not 



26 THE CRADLE ROLL MANUAL 

our province to decide whether we shall give the child any- 
religious training or not. The universality of religion — 
man's never-ending search since the days of the most 
primitive altar for some eternal good — bears witness to 
the fact that it is part of the racial inheritance. 

Religion represents men's keenly felt wants, and its 
roots are everywhere where men share a strong desire. 
The sharing is as important as the desire in the growth 
of religion, for it cannot exist apart from society. Individ- 
ual religion is a relatively late development. Man's 
destiny is not to be achieved apart from his fellows. His 
religious education cannot proceed except in a social ex- 
perience. 

Doctor Coe makes the parental instinct the basis for 
giving ideas of God. It is present in two forms. First, in 
the child's attitude toward his earthly father, which is 
identical with the Christian idea of God. Secondly, the 
child has the parental instinct within himself: that is, he 
has an impulse to father and care for some one or some- 
thing smaller and weaker than himself. "Here Christian 
experience begins," says Doctor Coe. "We love God only 
when we take his point of view, and we can take his point 
of view only through some experience of our own in which 
we actually exercise godlike interest in another." * 

Doctor Dawson makes the basis for giving ideas about 
God the child's interest in nature. He asks eager ques- 
tions about the causes of things. To questions of this sort, 
"God made it," or "It is the heavenly Father's plan," are 
satisfactory answers. Religion says that this is a world 
of law and order in which a loving heavenly Father cares 
for his children. The knowledge that an all-wise Power 
has planned the warm coat, the red apple, the drink of 
water gives a sense of security. The consciousness of a 
heavenly Father answers the little child's needs, it gives 
satisfaction, it lessens fear, it answers his questions. 



1 A Social Theory of Religious Education, George A. Coe. Charles Scribner's 
Sons. 



THE RIGHTS OP THE VERY LITTLE CHILD 27 

The chief business of the church is education, and its 
most important pupils are the children. The practice of 
medicine is a boon to suffering humanity, but every physi- 
cian will testify that preventive medicine — the application 
of the laws of sanitation and hygiene — is his real work. 
The rescue of a shipwrecked life is the duty of the church, 
but a program of constructive education making the work 
of rescue unnecessary is the predominant function of or- 
ganized religion. To quote Doctor Coe again: "The church 
belongs to children just as their fathers and mothers 
belong to them; and children belong to the church just as 
they belong to families. . . . Habit-forming begins at 
birth. In order that a child may grow up a Christian and 
never know himself otherwise he must have cooperation 
from those who have the spirit of Christ. That is, the 
child must have social education upon the Christian 
plane." * 

SUGGESTIONS FOR FURTHER STUDY 

1. Tell of a superstitious idea concerning heredity or 
pre-natal influence which you have heard. What scientific 
arguments could you use to disprove it? 

2. What is mal-nutrition? What are the causes? Study 
a height and weight chart as found in any book on infant 
care until you are familiar with the figures for normal 
growth. 

3. Read "The Health of the School Child/' by Lewis M. 
Terman, and note the physical defects which have their 
beginnings in infancy. 

4. To what extent should public authorities control the 
welfare of young children? 

5. Cite instances of parents of your acquaintance who 
are robbing their children of their rights through mistaken 
ideas of kindness. 



1 A Social Theory of Religious Education, George A. Coe. Charles Scribner'e 
Sons. 



CHAPTER II 

THE BEGINNINGS OF CHARACTER BUILDING 

We touch in earliest education tiny threads which stretch 
beyond the small and the transitory to what is eternal. — 
Mrs. Frank Malleson. 1 

The relative importance of heredity and environment in 
character-building has never been determined. All that 
education can do, even at best, is to aid the development of 
inborn qualities. If this is true, characteristics which are 
not present in the germ plasm cannot be grafted on. But, 
on the other hand, the great tragedy of life is not the 
twenty-five per cent who are born lacking in various 
degrees but the seventy-five per cent who with normal or 
superior intelligence, have failed to develop latent qual- 
ities. The normal individual with good training is more 
valuable to the world than is the richly endowed individual 
with faulty training. 

The time when beginnings are made. A mother once 
went to a Greek philosopher and besought him to under- 
take the education of her son. 

"How old is the child?" he asked. 

"Five years," was the answer. 

"I cannot," returned the philosopher. "That should have 
been begun five years ago." 

From the first hour every moment counts for good or ill 
in the making of character. What is most desired in the 
man must be put into the environment during early child- 
hood. At birth the baby begins to react to the outside 
world, the world of material things and the world of folks. 

1 Notes on the Early Training of Children, D. C. Heath. 

28 



THE BEGINNINGS OF CHARACTER BUILDING 29 

Patterson Du Bois calls one of the chapters in his Natural 
Way in Moral Training, "Nurture by Atmosphere." The 
infant is a suckling in the fullest sense of the term, and 
the whole life is not sufficient to efface that which is ab- 
sorbed during these earliest years when the receptive 
powers are so great and the powers of resistance so weak. 
At this time the germs of character, especially of the emo- 
tional life, are developed. Antipathies and likings are 
acquired which cannot be explained in later life. While 
memory can recall nothing of the events of these years, 
many characteristics supposedly instinctive or inherited 
are gained at this time. 

Doctor Waldstein, in his book, The Subconscious Self, 
gives the account of an experiment which he made with 
Helen Keller that proves the persistence of early impres- 
sions. As is well known, Miss Keller lost her sight and 
hearing before she was three years old. The Doctor ob- 
tained from Mrs. Keller two plantation songs in manu- 
script, "The Ten Virgins" and "Way Down in de Meadow," 
which had been sung in her home in Alabama but are not 
now generally known in the South. These tunes he had 
played upon the piano while the young girl, then about 
sixteen years of age, stood with her fingers resting upon 
the wooden frame in order to get the vibrations. He was 
careful not to give her any inkling of his intentions. "The 
effect was striking," he writes. "She became greatly ex- 
cited, laughed and clapped her hands after the first few 
bars. 'Father carrying baby up and down, swinging her 
on his knee, Black Crow! Black Crow!' she exclaimed 
repeatedly with manifest emotion. ... It was evident to 
all those who were present that the young lady was carried 
back to her early surroundings even into the time of life 
when she was carried about by her father; but we could 
not find a meaning for the words 'Black Crow!' I con- 
sidered it prudent not to question her, but appealed by 
letter to her mother, who was kind enough to send an 
early reply. Mrs. Keller said: 'What you wrote interested 



30 



THE CRADLE ROLL MANUAL 



us very much. "The Black Crow" is her father's standard 
song, which he sings to all his children as soon as they 
can sit on his knee. These are the words: "Gwine 'long 
down the old turn row, something hollered 'Hello Joe/ etc. 
It was a sovereign remedy for putting them in a good 
humor and was sung to Helen hundreds of times. It is 
possible that she remembers it from its being sung to the 
two younger children as well as herself. The other two, 
I am convinced, she had no association with, unless she 
can remember them as she heard them before her illness. 
Her father used to trot her on his knee and sing "The Ten 
Virgins" and she would get down and shout as the Negroes 
do in church. It was very amusing. But after she lost her 
sight and hearing it was a painful association and was 
not sung to the two little ones.' " * 

"The nervous system is born into the world neither up- 
right nor depraved, but plastic,"' says Professor Home. 
The little lad who eats his simple supper with relish and 
goes to bed is not an angel. The other who teases for 
everything on the family dinner table and has to be car- 
ried to his crib in a fit of 



ADULT 
LIFE 



VMENTAL 
AND 
VMORAL 



PHYSICAL 



BIRTH 



temper is not an imp. 
They are both, like all of 
us, creatures of habit. The 
beginnings of the entire 
development of the child, 
mental and moral, are in 
his physical nature and con- 
sist in the formation of 
habits. 

Importance of physical 
care. Dr. Thomas D. Wood 8 
makes the blackboard ex- 



1 The Subconscious Self, Louis Waldstein. Charles Scribner's Sons. 

2 Psychological Principles of Education, H. H. Home. The Macmillan 
Company. 

• Address, Teachers College, Columbia University. 



THE BEGINNINGS OF CHARACTER BUILDING 31 

plain very graphically, to his classes in infant hygiene, 
the relation oetween character-building and physical care. 
In adult life about one half of the twenty-four hours are 
devoted to physical care, sleeping, eating, bathing, etc. 
The remainder of the time is spent at work or play, during 
which time the mental and moral life is prominent. The 
infant devotes all of his time to physical care. Protect 
for him that narrow wedge of mental and moral develop- 
ment, for in that narrow wedge character begins. 

Ernest Hamlin Abbott, quite paradoxically, calls his 
book on child-training, The Training of Parents} He says, 
"The whole duty of man during the first few weeks of his 
existence consists in feeding and sleeping regularly; most 
of the rights of man during that period consist in being 
let alone. . . . The first habits which parents have to form 
in the training of their child are their own — the habit of 
non-interference and the habit of self restraint. . . . 
While we are forming in ourselves the habit of non- 
interference, we are forming in him the habit of regu- 
larity." 

Good habits, the right thing at the right time, are the 
bases of moral life. Felix Adler writes: "I do not main- 
tain that regularity itself is moral, but that it is favorable 
to morality because it curbs inclination. I do not say that 
rules are always good, but that the life of impulse is al- 
ways bad. Even when we do the good in an impulsive way 
we are encouraging in ourselves a vicious habit. Good con- 
duct consists in regulating our life according to good prin- 
ciples; and a willingness to abide by rules is the first, the 
indispensable condition of moral growth. Now the habit 
of yielding to rules may be implanted in a child even in 
the cradle. 2 It is hard to break a bad habit, but luckily it 
is just as hard to break a good habit. Turn to a psychol- 
ogy and *look at the laws of habit formation. They are 



1 The Training of Parents, Houghton Mifflin Company. 
8 Moral Instruction of Children, D. Appleton & Co. 



32 THE CRADLE ROLL MANUAL 

three: First, act on every opportunity; second, make a 
strong start; third, allow no exception. 

The infant very soon learns that food and comfort are 
brought to him by speaking and moving objects, which 
later he differentiates as the members of his family. His 
sense of dependence upon them, unconscious even though 
it be, is the earliest religious impulse. This revelation of 
human love becomes for him the symbol of divine love, so 
the training of the religious nature as well as the moral 
has its beginnings in these responses to the infant's physi- 
cal needs. 

Other things being equal, regularity of physical life is an 
assurance of good health. Strong character cannot be 
attained by a sickly child. Disposition is not native but is 
acquired. The slightest physiological disturbance has an 
effect on the feelings and the disposition and therefore 
on the character. 

Early impressions. The folks in a baby's environment 
influence his character in a more subtle way. One can be 
quite conscious that he is striving to have the child form 
the habit of being put into his crib wide awake to go to 
sleep unattended and unrocked. Baby is quite conscious 
of it too when he rebels the first few nights and cries to 
be taken up. But during this period, even when memory 
saves us no record of the events, the very foundations of 
character are being laid. Before the age of three the 
child does not know himself as an individual. He possesses 
a sort of common consciousness with the members of the 
family. He reacts as others do; he shares their feelings. 
One does not inherit a fear of caterpillars. It can be 
traced, most often, to the mother's fleeting expression of 
repugnance when baby, for the first time, finds one in the 
grass. "In those early impressions," writes Dr. Waldstein, 
"of which no one seems to be conscious, least of all the 
child, and which gather up power as the rolling avalanche, 
the elements are collected for future emotions, moods, acts, 
that make up a greater part of the history of the individ- 



THE BEGINNINGS OP CHARACTER BUILDING 33 

ual and of States. . . . The strange vagaries of affection 
and passion, which affect the whole existence of men and 
women — the racial and religious prejudices that shake 
States and communities to their very foundations, that 
make and unmake reputations and set the wheel of 
progress back into the dark ages — can be traced to such 
small beginnings and into those nooks of man's sub- 
conscious memory." a 

Imitation. Again people affect the child's character in 
a very definite way because of his social attitude of imita- 
tion. This is not an instinct but the earliest learned and 
the most persistent of human habits. We see the results 
of other people's actions and try to gain the same results 
in the same way. The most interesting material to the 
child is the behavior of persons. Because he is a social 
being he likes to feel himself a member of the group, and 
he gets this feeling by acting like others: 

The earliest imitation is reflex: that is, it is physiolog- 
ical. The nervous system reacts to an impression without 
an act of volition on the part of the brain. For example, 
we immediately copy another person's yawn without mean- 
ing to and often when we are trying our very utmost not to 
do it. For this reason the little child is more or less per- 
manently affected by the dominant mood of the person 
with whom he is associated most. Calmness, joyousness, 
politeness are developed by contagion, and they can be so 
developed just as easily as their opposites. 

Watch a little girl with her dolls and it is easy to dis- 
cover how her mother treats her. This is imitation on the 
next higher plane. It is a conscious imitation, directed 
by the busy little brain. A bit of imagination is added so 
it becomes the beginning of real play. There are no idle 
words where children are; there are no idle actions either, 
and even a fleeting expression of the face is noted and 
attempted by the watchful little imitators, so be not care- 
less in speech nor in deed when they are by. 



1 The Subconscious Self, Louis Waldstein. Charles Scribner's Sons. 



34 THE CRADLE ROLL MANUAL 

Much of the little child's religion is gained in this way. 
Our religious acts are easily imitated. The evening prayer, 
the blessing at the table, our reverent attitude as we enter 
a church, the tone of voice as we speak the name of God, 
have all been incorporated into the very fiber of his being 
long before he can reason very much about it. "Let the 
child wait until he is grown and then choose his religion," 
we often hear. Does the gardener wait until August and 
then let the garden decide whether it prefers weeds or 
roses? There can be no waiting. If we are not implanting 
in the heart of the little child a love for God and the habit 
of communion with him, the weeds of disrespect for reli- 
gious things are growing. The inner and unconscious ideals 
of the parents are what teach the child; their punishments 
and their sermonettes are to him as the passing of a, 
summer cloud; what they worship is what he desires and 
reflects. 

Self activity. Both the direct teaching and the uncon- 
scious influence of the environment and the people in it 
would fail in effecting the development of character if the 
child were not a self-active being. The early habits which 
are assumed almost unconsciously are not sufficient for 
independent life in a social community. There must be an 
intelligent self-will developed if the child is to make right 
choices. It is an endless chain in which every link must 
be strengthened. Self-will depends upon reason. All rea- 
soning as all knowledge begins in activity. Rousseau says 
that there can be "no thinking without activity." 

Development of will. The first step in the development 
of will comes when the child realizes that he is a separate 
personality. The outward sign of the fact that the little 
human being has arrived at this milepost is a seeming con- 
trariness which comes at about three years of age. 
Hitherto, baby has been dominated by the wills of others. 
Now he seems to do the opposite of any suggestion made 
and he says, "I don't want to," very often, but usually with 
a sweet smile. He insists upon waiting upon himself and 



THE BEGINNINGS OF CHARACTER BUILDING 35 

will fuss over his own shoe buttons for long moments, 
declining all offered help. If the helper insists, he resents 
with a burst of temper. Only a far-reaching vision of the 
place of that will in the growing life can help the mother 
to bear with that contrary little being. Overdomination 
by a stronger personality at this time destroys the power 
for self-government in the days which are to come. 

The early virtues. In most discussions of moral training 
there is much place given to the separate virtues. When 
training a young child, if we work at character-building 
from this angle, it is most discouraging. Selfish he is to 
an extreme. If he were not he could not live — his own 
comfort is of primary importance. He has no sense of 
property rights. Every object upon which he fastens his 
eyes in this new world immediately suggests itself as 
something to be experimented with. He is sometimes 
cruel for the same reason. A cat's tail is something to be 
experimented with. He pulls it to see what will happen. 
He is untruthful, we say. Yes, he has a vivid imagination 
with no organized body of knowledge with which to evalu- 
ate facts. 

It is so hard to recognize iaint beginnings. The earliest 
virtues begin on the instinctive level with three innate 
tendencies of the human mind. The first is sympathy — 
the tendency to feel as others feel, which is shown in 
smiling and the waving of the hands. The second is sug- 
gestion — the tendency, without adequate grounds, to think 
as others think. This is especially so when we have not 
sufficient knowledge to criticize the ideas presented and 
when those ideas come from those who have superior 
wisdom. This is exactly the case with little children. The 
third is imitation or the tendency to do as others do. As 
has been said before, the behavior of people is most inter- 
esting and the child tries it out just to see how it feels. 

Basic human virtues. Professor Lecky makes the basic 
human virtues three — the courageous endurance of suf- 
fering, obedience to the will of the social whole, and sym- 



36 THE CRADLE ROLL MANUAL 

pathy. Endurance on the physical plane is the infinitesimal 
germ of the attainment of spiritual heroism. The obedi- 
ence must be a free, conscious obedience to law, not to 
mere authority; to necessity, not to the whims of grown- 
ups; to an inner purpose, not to an external master; and 
practice begins with the physical needs — food and sleep. 
The three virtues carry along in their train as con- 
comitants a troup of others — trustfulness, cheerfulness, 
unselfishness, and generosity. 

Truthfulness, on the other hand, is an adult virtue. 
Children cannot employ language accurately, and they live 
so much in the realm of the imagination that they step 
back and forth across the border line between that king- 
dom and the real world without realizing it. Listen to the 
words of wisdom from Jean Paul Richter's Levana 1 : 
"During the first five years they say neither what 
is true nor what is false — they merely talk. . . . Further, 
at first they find great pleasure in exercising their new art 
of speech, &nd so they often talk nonsense only for the 
sake of hearing their own acquisitions in language. They 
frequently do not understand some word that you have 
said, . . . and so give rather a mistaken than a false 
reply. ... If the child has promised something, remind 
him frequently of it as the time approaches, but without 
using other words than 'You said so/ and at last compel 
him to the performance. But if he has done something, 
you cannot be too sparing in your inquiries, which may 
easily become painful. The younger the child is, the fewer 
questions you ought to ask, the more you ought to seem 
all-knowing or to remain ignorant. Do you not understand 
that you apply a fiery trial, to children, when by your 
ill-concealed anger and the prospect of punishment after 
confession you place them in the dangerous position of 
choosing whether they shall obey instinct or an idea? . . . 
The simple savage is full of deceit, both in words and ac- 
tions; the peasant, under the influence of some trifling 



1 George Bell & Sons, London. 



THE BEGINNINGS OF CHARACTER BUILDING 37 

danger, will tell a lie; . . . and yet you require in a child 
whom you have to educate the last and noblest fruits of 
truth. Truth, as a conscious virtue and sacrifice to its 
word, as its word, is a godlike blossom on an earthly plant; 
therefore it is not the first but the last virtue in order 
of time." 

SUGGESTIONS FOR FURTHER STUDY 

1. Select a child, under four years of age, whose home 
environment you know well and tabulate the conditions 
and influences which are helping in the development of 
Christian character and those which are hindering. 

2. Read Professor James* chapter on "Habit" either in 
his Psychology (Briefer Course) or "Talks to Teachers' 1 
and state in your own words the three laws of habit 
formation. 

3. A tiny girl was seen one day with her little broom 
"helping grandma sweep leaves." As is usual with such 
young helpers she swept more leaves on the sidewalk than 
she took off. Should she be allowed to do this? Why? 

4. Cite an instance of the apparent contrariness of a 
three-year-old which was just the dawning consciousness 
of his own personality. How would you handle such a 
situation? 



CHAPTER III 

THE ESSENTIALS OF CHRISTIAN MOTHERHOOD 

The relationship established between parent and child is 
apt to become, in time, the relationship between the soul 
and its God. — Elizabeth Harrison. 1 

There are many mothers who keep their children clean 
and who try to make them well mannered, but there 
are few who seek to give them a revelation of God. Chris- 
tian motherhood means something more than food and 
clothes. A man's whole philosophy of life, his faith in 
things eternal and his unyielding purposes are formed in 
that period of life of which, so often, no memory remains, 
and were nurtured first in his mother's heart. If the 
work were only that of physical care, a general knowledge 
of hygiene and nursing would be sufficient for the task. 
Any educated woman may care for the intellectual train- 
ing of her children, but Christian motherhood is an all- 
round task and it requires certain rare qualities. The 
most effective way to lead a child in any path is not to 
talk about it overmuch but to travel that path oneself. A 
mother's consciousness of God will shine out of her eyes 
and will be evident in the tones of her voice. 

Education is never finished; it is a growth. Religious 
education is a growth Godward. This developing sense of 
God takes place only as man's experience of God grows 
broader. It involves correct teaching about God, the culti- 
vation of right feelings toward God, and the habit of right 
conduct toward one's fellows. The problem can only be 
solved by human beings, for it does not consist in trans- 
ferring a certain set of ideas from one generation to another. 
This might be brought about by word of mouth or by the 



1 A Study of Child Nature, The Chicago Kindergarten College. 

38 



ESSENTIALS OF CHRISTIAN MOTHERHOOD 39 

use of paper and ink. Christian education is more prop- 
erly the cultivation of intelligent will, and this takes place 
only when there is real living in progress. The growth of 
religious life in the young is the result of the sharing of 
a common life on the part of parents and teachers with 
developed religious natures, with children with unde- 
veloped religious natures. 

"Example is greater than precept," says the old proverb, 
and this truth makes the home the nursery of the religious 
life. The busy mother with her monotonous round of 
daily tasks wishes for more time in which to instruct her 
children. She forgets that her industry, fidelity, cheerful- 
ness, her hope and courage, her faith in God and her 
reverence for holy things, her acts of kindliness to the 
needy and of courtesy to all are reflected in her children 
as in a looking glass. Religion is vague in terms of ideas 
but it is concrete in terms of life. "Not the cry, but the 
rising of the wild duck impels the flock to follow him in 
upward flight," is the way the Chinese proverb expresses it. 

The Christian religion may be taught in the home 
through the child's relation to his parents. He sees the 
incarnation of religion in their lives. The love of his 
mother and the strength and protection of his father are 
to him as the love and care of the heavenly Father. All 
that is needed is to lift those home relations until they 
touch God and to broaden them until they include all men. 

The parents also teach by concrete example. Grace at 
the table and the evening prayer soon unconsciously become 
habits. The attitude toward death, the way in which 
burdens are carried, the attitude toward disagreeable 
people is just as unconsciously accepted and imitated, 
though no word is spoken to secure such action. 

For direct instruction, story-telling is the best method. 
Froebel said that "a story told at the right time becomes 
a looking-glass to the mind." In religious education we 
want truth or moral ideas converted into action so that 
character is changed. The mother who can tell stories is 



40 HE CRADLE ROLL MANUAL 

thrice armed for her task. If she will make the effort 
to reserve one half hour amid the demands of her busy 
day to spend with her children in storyland, they will be 
golden moments both in their possibilities for character- 
development and for the happiness of her children. Does 
she wish a certain desirable action in real life? The re- 
hearsal for such action takes place while the child listens 
to the story. The little listener assumes the part of one of 
the characters in the story. This assumed character per- 
sists as an attitude or a tendency toward action after the 
story is over. This tendency to act is the very germ of 
actual conduct. The nerves are made ready by it and as 
soon as the child finds himself in a similar situation he 
begins to move. Choose wisely and you have led your 
children far down the path of virtue, and, best of all, the 
journey has been a delight. 

Pestalozzi, in his Leonard and Gertrude, gives great 
place to what he calls "indirect teaching/' Gertrude, who 
is his ideal of both mother and teacher, never says to the 
little ones, "These are your hands," but, rather, "Come 
here and I will wash your hands." The God-consciousness 
which we are so desirous that our children possess may 
be best given in this way. Gratitude for a happy day, a 
sense of calmness in danger, of strength and serenity in 
trouble, the feeling of the presence of God in all places is 
contagious. One need not talk about them overmuch, for 
they are never gained by the use of the imperative. 

The Christian religion is a religion of service. The 
social-service projects of later life have their beginnings 
even in so simple an act as the sharing of a cooky when 
one is three. Mother may insist upon the sharing of the 
cooky, but the deed will not have any lasting effect if the 
small bright eyes read mother's unwillingness to help the 
neighboring hospital when some one calls for a donation. 
Is she genuinely glad to give as she packs the Christmas 
basket for the poor? Is she sincere with her tiresome 
caller or does she tell polite lies? Is she courteous to the 



ESSENTIALS OF CHRISTIAN MOTHERHOOD 41 

grocer's boy? We may think that baby is too little to 
notice, but before the fourth birthday is reached the mother 
may see herself in miniature as her little girl plays house 
with her dolls. 

Doctor Dawson says that "everything in a little child's 
life should be interpreted religiously." x The church school 
is attempting to give that interpretation in a stated place, 
at a stated hour and with a carefully worked out curri- 
culum. The mother has the opportunity which the teacher 
can only covet and never realize. The mother's interpreta- 
tion can be closely knit to real life, it can meet the need of 
the individual child and it is more valuable because 
it lacks the formality of definite teaching. Such an inter- 
pretation is merely relating the happenings of everyday 
life to God by the casual remark. 

A little girl in the Beginners circle one Sunday suddenly 
exclaimed, "The doctor says my daddy's leg is all better," 
and her face beamed as she said it. 

"See how happy Virginia looks," said the teacher. "She 
says her father is going to walk again." 

The teacher, who is ever ready to relate her children's 
experiences to the heavenly Father, was not quite quick 
enough this time. Before she had ventured a word some 
one began to sing, "Father, we thank thee." 

Three beautiful pink roses were handed in at the Begin- 
ners door by a friend of the department. The children 
gathered about to smell and admire. "My, but Heavenly 
Father helped Mr. C. to have nice flowers in his garden," 
said a little boy. Such expressions fall quite as naturally 
from the lips of the mother who is conscious of the pres- 
ence of the One who is all wise and all powerful and who 
orders the universe and cares for a little child with the 
same tender love. It is this God-consciousness for which 
the little child is groping; but, much as the mother may 
desire it for her child, she can only give it in such measure 
as she possesses it herself. 



1 The Child and His Religion, George E. Dawson. University of Chicago Press. 



42 THE CRADLE ROLL MANUAL 

Miss Frances Weld Danielson tells this story about a 
friend. "When I was a little girl I criticized some of the 
old-fashioned columbines, and said I thought God might 
have made them hold up their heads. My busy mother left 
her baking to take me in her lap and say, impressively: 
'Everything God makes is made in the very best way. You 
will find this true always/ Next day I came in with a 
May basket, the columbines arranged around the edge. 
'See, they just fit/ I said. 'I'm glad God made their heads 
hang down/ That thoughtful explanation of my mother 
made an impression from which I have never recovered." * 

The ideal mother — it is hard to describe her. She is 
wise, for she must needs teach her children from her 
own experience. She is sympathetic, for there is no 
teaching done unless the teacher can enter into the life of 
the learner and understand. She is serene, for growing 
souls need sunshine. She has it in her power to make or 
mar the conditions of their growth. Happiness can be 
acquired and the mother's mental state creates the atmos- 
phere of the home. She keeps herself well, for her serenity 
and patience rest upon a physiological as well as a spir- 
itual basis. 

The Christian mother not only guides her children; she 
leads them. She is willing to pay the price of a godly 
example, knowing that it avails little to tell them what to 
do when little eyes are so watchful and the tendency to 
imitate is at its best. Believing that her calling is the 
holiest of all tasks and that the heavenly Father himself 
has called her to do it, she inspires her little ones by first 
making herself all that she wants them to be. 

SUGGESTIONS FOR FURTHER STUDY 

1. Cite any instances which you know of a little child's 
sensitivity to the atmosphere of the household or to the 
mood of the adults with whom he comes in contact. 






1 Lessons for Teachers of Beginners. The Pilgrim Press. 



ESSENTIALS OF CHRISTIAN MOTHERHOOD 43 

2. Because of the fantastic ideas of God which little 
children often acquire some people claim that they should 
not be given any religious teaching. What arguments can 
you give in favor of early religious training? 

3. Explain the process of achieving character by means 
of the story. Read A Social Theory of Religious Educa- 
tion, by George A. Coe, page 198 to the end of the chapter. 

4. Take a notebook and begin to write in it good pray- 
ers for little children as you come upon them in your 
reading. Mothers are constantly asking for them. 



CHAPTER IV 

BABY'S TOYS 

Choose his toys wisely and then leave him alone with 
them. Leave him to the throng of emotional impressions 
they will call into being. Remember that they speak to 
his feelings when his mind is not yet open to reason. The 
toy at this period is surrounded with a halo of poetry 
and mystery and lays hold of the imagination and the 
heart. — Kate Douglas Wiggin. 1 

Books and schoolrooms cannot teach what toys inculcate. 
Play is the child's natural method of self -education, the 
most direct method and the most efficacious. Babyhood is 
brief, but no other period of similar length in the whole 
cycle of human life will yield such results in the acquiring 
of knowledge and skills as do these four or five years of 
the preschool age. In this thrice happy age one simply 
and unconsciously follows the lead of one's interest with a 
care-free abandon and the miracle is wrought — the senses 
are discovered, the various parts of the body become will- 
ing servants, habits are formed, the imagination is devel- 
oped, a language is learned. Professor Groos puts it in his 
own characteristic fashion: "The animal does not play 
because he is young, he has a period of youth because he 
must play." 2 

Children will play. Even amid the squalor and wretch- 
edness of the slums, where there seems to be entire lack of 
both something to play with and the joyousness of spirit 
which always accompanies that activity, little girls hug up a 
bit of stick with a cloth wrapped around it and the toddler 
trudges along the gutter with a string tied to an old box. 
In much the same way the son and daughter of the 

J Children's Rights, Houghton Mifflin Company. 

3 Play of Animals, Introduction. D. Appleton & Co. 

44 



BABY'S TOYS 45 

millionaire, regardless of fine raiment and the expostula- 
tions of a stupid nurse, find much of interest and some 
opportunity for educational development in a handful of 
pebbles gathered from the walk in the parkway. If these 
little human beings can accomplish so much toward their 
own growth with few and poor materials, what would be 
the result of giving them carefully selected toys? Thought- 
ful parents, realizing both their duty and their opportunity, 
stand bewildered amid the motley collection of most toy- 
shops and ask, "What is best?" 

The answer to this question must be based upon a study 
of children's plays. A child's interests follow his develop- 
ing powers. His interests lead him to repeat and repeat 
an activity until skill is gained and that acquired skill be- 
comes the stepping-stone to the next stage of development. 
A baby's power to grasp objects leads to reaching for them. 
In reaching for something beyond his grasp a method of 
locomotion, creeping or hitching is developed. With power 
to get about comes increased interest in the contents of 
the room, and so on. 

The first eighteen months of life are devoted primarily 
to the development of the senses, to getting control over 
the movements of the body, and to learning to talk. The 
play of this period answers these peculiar needs and gives 
power over these skills. In the early months there is a 
constant seeking for stimulation through sensations. The 
moving of the eyes is for the pure joy of the sensation of 
light and color. The moving of the head is in response to 
hearing. Kicking and waving of the arms are indulged in 
for the pleasure of making the movement itself. The 
mouth is the all important member, and everything which 
can be grasped is crowded into that cavity. Hours and 
hours are spent in voluntary drill in the coordination of 
eye and muscle until distance can be accurately measured 
and the elusive ball or rattle grasped without fumbling. 

To provide play materials for any age does not neces- 
sarily mean the expenditure of money. A little thought 



46 THE CRADLE ROLL MANUAL 

and a little time spent in the study of the child's activities 
is more essential. Every household contains many things, 
from the very tools of housekeeping to the scraps and bits 
of junk which find their way into the wastebasket, which 
have educative value. Every child appreciates this even 
when his mother does not. For example, a most engross- 
ing toy for a baby old enough to sit up and handle things 
is a pasteboard box in which may be placed all sorts of 
harmless articles — a spool, an ivory shoe horn, a bit of 
bright cardboard, a silver spoon — anything that will attract 
baby's attention. The rattle of the box will awaken suffi- 
cient interest to make him spend long minutes in trying 
to get the cover off. When at last he succeeds every 
separate object will come in for a share of his attention 
which will keep him occupied for some time. If the 
mother will remember that novelty is an underlying prin- 
ciple and change the contents from time to time it will 
never fail to charm. 

Toys for the little baby: 

Rattle. 

Ivory ring to chew. 

Rubber animals. 

Rag doll. 

Household articles: 

Tin dish and wooden spoon to make a noise with. 

Clothespins to bite and handle. 

Paper to tear. 

Large wooden spools. 

When baby is on the floor, through the creeping stage 
and on into the age of toddling, his interests will require 
more. Simple dramatic play begins now. The household 
objects come to have absorbing interest. He wants the 
hairbrush, and he wants to use it as he has seen grown- 
ups use it. He will take a bit of cloth and dust the chair. 
His attitude is that of "finding out" how things are done 
in this world and how folks feel when they carry on each 
activity. 



BABY'S TOYS 47 

This age is also the time for the dawn of the construc- 
tive interest. Many things are not easily identified when 
in the germ. This is so closely associated with what 
seems, to the mature mind, destruction that it is not often 
recognized. The young mother who laments over the last 
issue of a magazine torn by baby fingers or the new me- 
chanical toy which bears evidence of the fact that baby 
has been investigating its internal workings does not think 
that destruction and construction are probably alike in 
motive. Whether the little one pulls things to pieces or 
not, he is, at this age, fond of producing effects through 
the handling of objects or, as Professor Groos so happily 
terms it, "by hustling things about." For his purpose, 
the large and awkward household articles fill him with 
delight, and he will turn from his ivory rattle any moment 
if he sees a chance to do things with the clothes-hamper. 
The writer can never forget the abounding energy and 
supreme rapture of a two-year-old, who one morning dis- 
covered himself in the kindergarten room of a public 
school building where his mother had brought him while 
she attended to her duties as a citizen of these United 
States. True, the Election Board was meeting, but he 
was the busiest thing in that room. For when in all of 
his little life had he seen so many little chairs that might 
be hustled about? He had but ten minutes but every 
second was made to count, and the chairs were turned into 
as many different positions. As his mother led him away 
I his reluctant, backward glance said quite plainly, "Oh, if 
something would cause my mother to bring me to this 
interesting place every morning!" 
i Glimpses like this show the need children feel for large 
< toys. Blind adult beings that we are, we fail to note baby's 
delight when he gets possession of the wastebasket or a 
I tin kettle and, laboring under the delusion that we know 
'; what is best for him, we take them away and present him 
j with a rubber dog that squeaks or an ivory ring hung 
with bells, while he registers his disapproval by a loud 



48 THE CRADLE ROLL MANUAL 

wail. Having squeaked the dog and shaken the bells, he 
has exhausted the possibilities of these familiar objects 
and so he screws up his face ready for another wail while 
scanning the environs for the nice, big wastebasket that 
can be rolled over and crept into or the kettle which may 
be turned into a drum or used to gather up all one's worldly 
possessions. One young lady, m the creeping stage, if left 
alone for an instant, traveled immediately to the kitchen 
cabinet and there gave herself to the delights of taking out 
and handling her mother's shiny aluminum. For months 
it was, to her, the most attractive spot in the house. 

Toys for the toddler: 

Balls — rubber and stuffed leather. 

Cart. 

Rag doll. 

Chase Stockinette doll — a very durable rag doll with 
hand-painted features. 

Kiddie Kar. 

Broom. 

Horse reins. 

Floating toys for the bath. 

Wooden chimes — more musical than the metal ones. 

Toy piano. 

Stuffed animals. Good ones may be procured from the 
Sells Corporation, Penobscot Building, Detroit, Michigan. 

Blocks — large, plain wood or Kindergarten Gift III and 
Gift IV. Large size. 

Nest of blocks. 

Household articles: 

Spools. 

Clothespins. 

Sticks. 

Boxes — wood and cardboard and some with sliding 
covers. 

Bag with a string to put things in. 

From the suggestions above it can be easily seen that it 
is not what the toy can do but what the child can do with 



BABY'S TOYS 49 

it which is important. The best toy is the one that gives 
the child the most work to do. The passive state of looking 
on while a toy performs is wholly unchildlike and is soon 
revolted from. The child wants to do, and he gets the 
highest educational value from a mechanical toy when he 
pulls it apart to see what makes it "go," even though his 
parents deplore his "destructiveness." 

At the age of three the dramatic play begins to assume 
a new characteristic. The attitude of "finding out" about 
an object is changed to an attitude of "make believe." 
A broom has other possibilities than that of sweeping the 
floor like mother. He bestrides it and it becomes a horse. 
He carries it at his shoulder and it is a gun. The imagina- 
tion has entered in and, like a fairy carpet, it can carry 
him wherever he wills. This is the real dawn of play. 
Once a tiny girl on seeing her brother busy with the lawn 
mower, turned her kiddie kar up on end and grasping the 
handles, solemnly walked behind him, pushing her im- 
provised lawn mower before her. He never cuts the grass 
without her assistance. 

Toys for the run-about: 

Schoenhut doll — made of wood, unbreakable and wash- 
able, jointed but with no rubber cord so that they never 
require restringing. According to size, $3 to $6. 

Wooden doll furniture — more satisfactory if homemade. 

Doll carriage. 

Dishes. 

Stove. 

Wooden animals. 

Wagon. 

Wooden rake, snow shovel and garden tools. 

Blackboard. 

Blocks — large and of plain wood. A good set is the 
"Hennessy blocks." 

Beads — Mrs. Hailmann's enlarged wooden beads — 144 in 
a box in three forms, sphere, cube and cylinder and six 
colors. 



50 THE CRADLE ROLL MANUAL 

Peg board, size 10x10 — 40 cents. 100 wooden pegs in 
six colors, 20 cents. 

For constructing: 

Paper. 

Paste. 

Scissors. 

Crayon. 

Cardboard boxes. 

Milk bottle tops for wagon wheels. 

Dennison brass paper fasteners. 

Nature materials: 

Sand pile and tin dishes. 

Pebbles. 

Clay for modeling. 

If there is an available corner for it in the yard or on the 
porch, no play material is quite so attractive as a barrel of 
sand, dumped into a large, low box. Sand molds are very 
nice, but with any kind of a receptacle to be filled and 
emptied and refilled, and a big iron spoon, the possibilities 
are limitless. Children never tire of making cakes, weigh- 
ing out "sugar," and building tunnels. 

A real play room is not always possible, but there are 
two or three essentials or, one might almost say, rights 
which every little child should have. The first is a place 
for his playthings. Do grown-ups complain about the litter 
of toys on the floor? In those homes where they complain 
the loudest there is probably no corner that the child may 
call his own and where his things will be undisturbed. For 
the baby a wooden box, finished and painted if desired, and 
with castors or "domes of silence" attached so that it can be 
pushed about, is all that is necessary. An older child will 
'like a low cupboard with shelves. As the habit of orderli- 
ness cannot be instilled all at once, wooden doors, or at least 
a curtain, will be appreciated by the careful housewife, 
especially if the cupboard must stand in one of the family 
living rooms. The second right which belongs to the little 
child, in this world where the furniture is built for giants, 



BABY'S TOYS 51 

is at least one chair and one sturdy little table which is 
suitable for a Lilliputian body. 

One expects to decorate a playroom with things which are 
in harmony with a little child's interests. There are im- 
portant psychological reasons why the environment at this 
period of first impressions should be one of taste and beauty. 
Baby's interest in pictures and the consciousness of what he 
sees is established by the time the first six months have 
elapsed, and from that time on that which the eyes rest 
upon day after day on the home walls makes impressions 
which can never be erased. The child without a playroom 
need not be deprived of a few well-chosen pictures which 
will speak not only to his busy little brain but to his soul. 
There is one wall space in the house which should be used 
just for him — that space above his crib. This can be done 
even in a humble home, for pictures simple enough for 
childish interests and really good in color and line may 
often be found in the magazines, and if neatly mounted 
will do very well. 

The following list of moderate-priced prints is merely 
suggestive: 

From the Emery School Art Company — 70 Fifth Avenue, 
New York City — Jessie Wilcox Smith — Madonna; I Love 
Little Pussy; A Child's Grace; Mother Goose Prints. 

From the Perry Picture Company, Maiden, Massachu- 
setts — Lerolle — The Arrival of the Shepherds, 22x28 inches; 
Barnes — Family Cares, 22x28 inches; Holmes — Can't You 
Talk?, 22x28 inches; Birds and Animals in natural color, 
7x9 inches. 

From the Milton Bradley Company — Maria L. Kirk — 
Mother Goose Prints. 

Mothers are constantly asking questions about picture 
books for little children. After a glance at the children's 
books which are shown in many of the bookstores one 
cannot wonder. Many of the books are poor from an 
artistic standpoint, but some are positively vulgar in idea 
and savor of the comic supplement. It is a sad commentary 



52 THE CRADLE ROLL MANUAL 

on our American newspaper habit to say that the colored 
supplement with its bad art, its constant suggestion of un- 
wholesome morals, and its wretched attempt at humor 
which fails to be funny, is the only picture-story book which 
some children know. The child's taste for good books 
should begin in babyhood. Even the "harmless" but empty 
books are a waste of time and money. The following list is 
not at all exhaustive but it is placed here in order to sug- 
gest the type of good books which may be secured: 

Blanche Fisher Wright — Real Mother Goose. 

Jessie Wilcox Smith — Mother Goose. 

Beatrix Potter— The Tale of Peter Rabbit. 

Leslie Brooke — Three Little Pigs. 

Leslie Brooke — The Three Bears. 

Felicite Lefevre with illustrations by Tony Sarg — The 
Cock, the Mouse and the Little Red Hen. 

E. Boyd Smith — The Farm Book. 

E. Boyd Smith— The Chicken World. 

E. Boyd Smith — The Railroad Book. 

E. V. Lucas — Four and Twenty Toilers. 

Kate Greenaway — Under the Window. 

Anatole France — Girls and Boys. 

Mary Mapes Dodge — Baby Days. 

Mary Mapes Dodge — The New Baby World. 

A very attractive and durable homemade scrapbook for a 
baby may be made from heavy cardboard. Cut the pictures 
used so that all are the same size if possible. Use cardboard 
as heavy as that used for book covers. Cut the sheets the 
same size as the pictures. Paste a picture on both sides of 
each sheet. Fasten the sheets together so that they will 
open and shut like a screen and bind all the outer edges, 
using strips of gummed cloth. The pages are so heavy and 
thick that they will endure the clumsy turning of small 
fingers. 

SUGGESTIONS FOR FURTHER STUDY 
1. Observe the play of a two or three-year-old for an hour 




o 
o 



o 

Q 

< 

i 

§ 

o 



BABY'S TOYS 53 

and make a record of his different activities under four 
heads: 

a. Plays in which imagination predominates. 

ft. Plays which have imitation as their basis. 

c. Construction plays (these will be simple such as 

piling blocks). 

d. Plays whose only motive is "hustling things about." 

2. What toys encourage doll play? What is the educa- 
tional value of such play? 

3. State your reasons for not giving children mechanical 
toys. Read the chapter entitled "Children's Playthings" in 
Kate Douglas Wiggin's Children's Rights. 

4. Make a list of good toys, giving, if possible, manufac- 
turer and price, for a year-old baby; for a two-year-old; for 
a three-year-old. 



CHAPTER V 

ORGANIZATION AND EQUIPMENT 

The little child is sitting, where the Master placed him, in 
the midst of us. The ages are in his keeping; his training 
is in ours. — Mary Aronetta Wilbur. 1 

The purpose. A childless church would be of all things 
in this world the most hopeless. Robbed of her noblest 
opportunity of service and with no vision of the future, she 
would have little reason to exist. While many individual 
churches are devoting only a miserable pittance either of 
brain power or of coin to the important work of religious 
education, still the childless church exists only in the 
imagination. The other side of the picture, the churchless 
home, is a reality. The figures are in print over and over 
again, and the numbers are so large that they fail to make 
much impression on the mind, but the homes where there 
is entire lack of anything which can be called religion are 
many. These homes have children within their walls, 
countless numbers of them, and unless the church bestir 
herself she will become a childless institution. 

The Cradle Roll becomes the bridge connecting the home 
and the church. Through the interest in the baby this con- 
nection is established at a time when the hearts of the 
parents are especially tender. The church which cares suf- 
ficiently for that little new life to seek it out and show con- 
tinued interest in its development becomes the church of 
that home. That the church should seek to arouse the 
parents to a sense of their responsibility for giving early 
spiritual impressions and should provide some means of 



1 A Child 1 8 Religion, Houghton Mifflin Company. 

54 



ORGANIZATION AND EQUIPMENT 55 

training for the parents for that work as well as definitely 
assist in it is but a manifestation of that interest. Across 
the bridge of the Cradle Roll that little child will one day 
come to take his own place in the church school, and thus 
a welcome is assured. 

The other things which the Cradle Roll seeks to do are 
but phases of its one great task. It enlists the interest of 
the children in the church school in the babies as members 
of the school. It opens a field of service to workers in the 
church by showing them the opportunity for Christian 
helpfulness in the homes about them. 

Membership. All children under four years of age should 
be enrolled and that word "all" should be written with large 
letters and underscored. A roll made up of baptized chil- 
dren or the children of church members ought to be called 
by some other name. A Cradle Roll has a vision and an 
open door of opportunity for service in the homes of the 
community which these other rolls of the "chosen few" 
cannot even faintly imagine. 

How to begin. "Why, just begin. If you have a single 
baby in your town, get its name and find some one to act 
as superintendent. It won't be long before you will find 
others." These directions were given by a successful Cradle 
Roll Superintendent to a friend in a small country church. 
This much capital can be found in any place — one baby and 
one woman who loves babies in general. 

The important thing is to advertise well. . It is easier, per- 
haps, to start with a nucleus of church babies and work out 
from that. One way is to take the baptismal roll for the 
past three years and while calling in these homes to get 
the enrollment keep one's eyes open for other little children 
in the neighboring houses. The new movement can be ex- 
plained in the church bulletin and at the church service 
and in every department of the church school, for even the 
Beginners can understand this. During this first canvass 
it is only necessary to procure last names and addresses. 
The details of the enrollment can be obtained while calling. 



56 THE CRADLE ROLL MANUAL 

Visiting is a very necessary part of the work with the 
homes and is best begun at once. Home Department work- 
ers can carry the word into the homes where there are no 
church school attendants. The distribution of invitations 
to membership and enrollment cards is an effectual method 
of securing names, but the call must follow soon to make 
the home conscious of a real interest and to transform that 
mere list of names into a group of little human beings in 
the mind of the superintendent. 

A little one-room school put up a sign, "Wanted! Babies 
for our Cradle Roll. If you have not one of your own, bor- 
row one and come." That invitation brought many babies 
with their mothers and friends. There was a brief social 
hour during which the babies were kept happy on the floor 
with a few borrowed toys, the mothers and friends enjoyed 
a little music and some light refreshments and the enroll- 
ments were made. 

A small town school gave the work to a class of Interme- 
diate girls and their teacher. They decided upon the poster 
method of advertising. Charming babies, in all sorts of 
poses, were cut from magazines. The camera secured some 
others, and both kinds of pictures were used for decorative 
purposes. The neat lettering announced "Baby Day" at the 
church school on a stated Sunday. These posters were dis- 
played everywhere, in store windows as well as in those of 
private houses. The babies came and their fathers and 
mothers too. A simple recognition of their presence was 
made as a part of the regular service of worship — an appro- 
priate hymn, a few words of welcome by the pastor and a 
prayer; the girls secured the enrollment, and the Cradle 
Roll was launched. 

In one community the Bureau of Vital Statistics was hon- 
ored with a visit and a list was made of the births during 
the past three years. These names were used as a basis 
for the first calling list. A house-to-house canvass is an 
excellent plan, but cannot be used to advantage unless the 
churches of the community will cooperate. 





ADJUSTABLE FRAME 



ORGANIZATION AND EQUIPMENT 57 

One may begin without printed enrollment blanks. In 
this case keep a careful record as follows: 

1. The baby's full name. 

2. The date of birth. 

3. Address. 

4. Parents' names. 

5. Church membership of parents. 

As soon as a few names are gathered the wall roll may 
be made. This is the visible sign of the babies' membership 
in the church school and as such is of never-failing interest 
both to the members of each baby's home circle and the 
members of the school. The publishing houses supply these 
rolls as a part of regular Cradle-Roll equipment. But those 
who cannot afford to buy can make an artistic and appro- 
priate roll for themselves. Select a piece of heavy 
white cardboard and have it framed in a narrow wooden 
frame. The frame should be made with an adjustable back 
so that names can be added or removed easily (see illustra- 
tion). Have slits, two and one half by one half inches, cut 
in the cardboard for the names. The names are then 
printed or typed on separate slips of paper and pasted in 
at the back. The words "Cradle Roll" may be traced in 
pretty letters at the top and touched up with water color 
or India ink. For decoration, cut from the magazines pic- 
tures of cunning babies and paste them at the top or down 
the sides (see illustration). A very dignified roll can be 
made by using just one picture, a Madonna or any mother 
and child. Or the camera may be used to gather snap shots 
of one's own babies and a tiny oval may be cut at each name 
place to hold the picture. 

Any of the cardboard creations which are unframed and 
have each baby's name on a separate little paper cradle or 
flower attached with a ribbon are most unsatisfactory. 
They soon become dilapidated and covered with dust. 

While the roll is a novelty, it is an excellent plan to 
allow each department in turn to have it with them for a 
few Sundays. Later it should be permanently hung in the 



58 THE CRADLE ROLL MANUAL 

Beginners' room. Here it should be placed low enough for 
a small brother or sister to hunt out baby's name with a 
forefinger. 

The Superintendent. Whoever may be chosen should 
have three qualifications — a love and understanding of little 
children — a love of the Friend of children — and tact. Other 
things may be helpful; these are indispensable. If the work 
is to be well done, it requires much time and thought so she 
ought not to be otherwise engaged in the school except per- 
haps as an assistant. Beginners and Primary Superin- 
tendents have enough to do in caring for the children in 
attendance. A mother can go into a home with a fuller 
sympathy than anyone else, sometimes not excepting the 
pastor. She may be a mother who is lonesome for children 
because her own are grown up and out in the world, or a 
young mother whose children will be the richer for the 
broadening of her vision gained in the contact with other 
mothers. If she is not a mother, she must be mature 
enough to win the respect of the mothers with whom she is 
to work. 

Her duties. The first duty at the time of organization 
is the enrollment of the babies; and this work is never 
ended, for records are useless unless carefully kept. She 
will want a record for her own use. Besides that there 
should be a record at the church office or some other con- 
venient place for the use of anyone who may need it. If 
there is a card index of the church-school members, the 
babies have a place in that, and it is the duty of the Cradle- 
Roll Superintendent to see that her part of it is up to date. 
If there is no such general record kept, the pastor, at least, 
will want a list of the Cradle-Roll homes for his own use, 
and she must see that the record is true and does not con- 
tain the names of babies who have moved away or grown up. 

Baby's birthday is a great event in the home, and its re- 
membrance by the Cradle-Roll Superintendent goes a long 
way toward establishing a bond of sympathy between home 
and church. The important thing is not to forget the date. 



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CRADLE ROLL 



ORGANIZATION AND EQUIPMENT 59 

The remembrance should arrive on the happy day and not 
a day or two late. To guard against such omissions it is 
best, at the beginning of the year, to put the names, each 
at its proper date, on a calendar or in an engagement book 
or something that will be kept in sight. 

The work which is most appreciated by the home and 
most essential for a successful Cradle Roll is the personal 
contact made by calling. The Cradle Roll Superintendent 
enters the home with no other motive than her interest in 
the baby. When the home is not very sympathetic toward 
religious things, she often gains her entrance more easily 
than the pastor. After she has won her way he may follow. 
Her first visits, if made with a spirit of cordiality and sym- 
pathy, are looked upon as events by the mother who is often 
so shut in with her little children that she longs for social 
contact. Soon she can aid the mother in her work with 
helpful suggestions concerning the care and training of the 
children, for a large number of mothers are untrained for 
their tasks but really want to know how to do the best for 
their children. When the day comes on which that super- 
intendent is sent for and asked to render a real service she 
may know that she has successfully established a relation 
between the church and that home which will mean much 
for the future of the children. 

After she has become acquainted with the homes she 
will be able to aid the pastor by providing him with a clas- 
sified list. It will help him to know of the folks who have 
perfectly good church letters tucked away in a drawer and 
who would come if they but had an invitation. Then there 
are the people who were interested in the church before the 
babies came, but who have developed the habit of staying at 
home since. The homes that are definitely non-Christian 
will be listed by themselves. 

For her own convenience she will want a street index — a 
loose leaf notebook in which every household is given a 
page. The number of the house is placed at the top, then 
baby's name and the other information. At the bottom 



60 THE CRADLE ROLL MANUAL 

there is space to jot down the date of calls made and any 
other notes. These slips are classified by streets, making 
the book easy to consult while going from one house to 
another. The denominational publishing houses carry con- 
venient Cradle Roll and Birthday Record books from which 
the worker may select the ones best suited to her needs. 

Another important duty will be mothers' meetings. There 
should be both social meetings and meetings for study. 
Some of them will be for Cradle-Roll mothers alone, and 
others will be held in conjunction with the parents' meet- 
ings of the other departments of the school. 

The Cradle-Roll Superintendent will want to be in close 
touch with the Beginners Department. She will be inter- 
ested to watch the development of the little ones who were 
once hers. She will wish to be present when the new babies 
are talked about and welcomed to the Roll. And her 
presence in the class when the four-year-old comes for the 
first time may help a good deal in making him feel at home. 
If she has been a frequent visitor in his home during his 
baby days, he will feel that he has one friend at least in 
this strange place. • 

Equipment 

1. Invitation to Membership and Application 
Enrollment Card 

These are useful at the time of organization and for use 
with new members, but not essential. The enrollment may 
be secured without them. On one side of the card there is 
an invitation to have the baby join and on the reverse side 
an application blank and an enrollment card. This is ac- 
companied by a printed letter to the parents explaining the 
object of the Cradle Roll. 

2. Certificates 

There are two. One is a membership certificate to be pre- 
sented to the child at the time of enrollment. The other is 
a promotion certificate which is presented when the child 






ORGANIZATION AND EQUIPMENT 61 

is four years old at the annual promotion service of the 
church school, usually held the last Sunday in September. 
These are highly valued in the home and are often framed 
in order to preserve them. 

3. Birthday Cards 

These are of various kinds from postcards to more elab- 
orate ones in envelopes. Sometimes there are three styles 
with a different picture and appropriate verse for one-, two-, 
and three-year-old children. Sometimes there are six styles 
giving a different picture and verse for girls of each year 
and another for boys. 

4. Chart for Wall 

Styles and prices of those furnished by the publishing 
houses will be given on request. 

5. Recorder and Birthday Book 

There are excellent books supplied which are especially 
for the Cradle Roll and have spaces for just the data 
needed. By all means use a card index or a loose-leaf 
system, as that is the only way to keep the record up to date. 

A Special Introductory Offer of these supplies, sufficient 
for twenty-five members, is made by the publishers at a 
reduced price. 



CHAPTER VI 

MAINTAINING THE INTEREST 

A baby's band is a very tiny tbing, but no prophet's or 
apostle's is more potent to point tbe way to our beavenly 
Fatber. — Cbarles Wagner. 1 

By the superintendent's own interest in the home. Real 
human folks will not be interested for long in a mere list of 
names hung upon tbe wall. If a Cradle Roll is to live and 
mean anything to the church and the homes which it rep- 
resents, the personal touch must be constant. The im- 
portance of calling has already been touched upon. When 
the roll is large this is so much of a task that assistants 
are sometimes thought necessary. Helpful as their work 
may be, they can never take the place of the superin- 
tendent's own contact with each home. It would be far 
better to have the assistants relieve her of some of the 
work connected with the socials and mothers' meetings. 

It is not necessary to wait until enrollment cards have 
been duly filled out before beginning to make the interest 
of the church in the little new life felt in the home. One 
superintendent has the pretty custom of sending a card of 
greeting just a few days after the birth. She has dainty 
cards engraved especially for this use. 



THE CRADLE ROLL 

of the 

Church 

sends love to 
Baby 

.and warmest congratulations to 

Father and Mother 

'0/ Such is the Kingdom of Heaven" 



1 By the Fireside, Doubleday, Page & Co. 

62 



MAINTAINING THE INTEREST 63 

By remembering the birthdays. Again, as suggested 
before, the birthdays should be remembered. The printed 
cards prepared by the publishers may be used, but some- 
times a personal letter is more effective. For the year-old 
babies this may be written to the mother, using the church- 
letterhead, or the Cradle Roll may have its own paper, bear- 
ing the name of tne church and a picture of a baby. For 
the second and third year the letter may be written to the 
baby. Tiny letter paper with a picture in the corner may be 
purchased, or it is cheaper to buy plain children's stationery 
and paste in the corner a tiny picture cut from a magazine. 
Or the picture may be traced with transfer paper and 
touched up with a little water color. 

Every baby loves a picture. A little baby will be at- 
tracted by the bright colors of one fastened on the wall over 
the crib long before he is able to hold a book. One mother 
used pictures very effectively all through the creeping age 
by placing them at the bottom of a bookcase inside the 
glass. They were changed from time to time and made to 
tell the story of baby's last experience in the out-of-door 
world. The robin redbreast that hopped on the lawn or the 
dog that trotted up near her carriage were soon placed behind 
the glass in picture form so that she could become better 
acquainted with them during her trips on hands and knees 
about the living room. In this way baby could enjoy a nice 
picture without the risk of its being torn. Here is a sug- 
gestion for the mother who has never thought of the value 
of pictures, and the Cradle Roll may supply one now and 
then as a birthday greeting. The magazine covers often 
show animals and children at play done in most attractive 
colors. If the picture is mounted on cardboard of the right 
shade to bring out those colors, the result will be very 
artistic. The art stores carry some pictures which are not 
expensive. The Perry Pictures may be used but only those 
of the birds and animals are in color, and color adds much 
to the meaning for a tiny child. 

If the Cradle Roll is large, the informal social events are 



64 THE CRADLE ROLL MANUAL 

sometimes more easily and successfully handled by dividing 
into groups. Baby's birthday makes an excuse for such a 
division. All the babies who have a birthday during the 
same month may have a party together. The superin- 
tendent's home is the best place to hold such an affair unless 
there is a cosy, prettily furnished room at the church. The 
babies may sleep or play on the floor as age and develop- 
ment dictate. The mothers may have a social time together 
with their sewing and perhaps a little music. The re- 
freshments may be of the simplest kind — tea and crackers 
for the mothers and a cracker for each baby. Or the two- 
and three-year-olds may sit at a little low table and have 
milk and crackers, junket, jello, or a very little homemade 
vanilla ice cream. The center of the feast may be a birth- 
day cake with one candle lighted for each child. If the cake 
is a sponge cake made from a very simple recipe, the older 
children may be allowed to have a little piece. The little 
ones will enjoy the lights. 

By recognition in the Beginners Department. The babies 
at home are always discussed with absorbing interest in the 
Beginners' circle. Each stage of development is boasted of 
by the proud brother or sister, while he who can say that 
he has a little, new baby is envied by all the others. This 
natural conversation may easily become a welcome service 
for the new name to be added to the roll. A prayer of 
thanks to the heavenly Father for his gift of the little baby, 
followed by a Cradle-Roll song make it complete. Little 
Beginners cannot learn many songs, and it often happens 
that the Cradle-Roll song is not sung often enough to be well 
remembered. Sometimes the teacher may sing the verse 
and the children join in the simple "Bye-lo" at the end. 
Mrs. Leyda's song in her book Carols is recommended, for 
it can be used in this way. The "Family Song," always a 
favorite with the Beginners, or a simple lullaby may be 
used as a Cradle-Roll song. Simplicity and informality 
should be the key note of anything in which little children 
take part. Moreover, if the service is for their education 



MAINTAINING THE INTEREST 65 

and development, they must have the initiative, so anything 
elaborate, such as rocking miniature cradles or putting 
paper flowers in a frame, often becomes unchildlike and 
misses its purpose. 

In one Beginners Department a tiny baby was brought 
in for his welcome service. The children, one by one, tip- 
toed up to peep at him as he lay asleep on his mother's lap, 
wrapped in his blue blanket. The room was very still 
during the prayer which followed, and it was a very real 
expression of thanks. 

The babies , birthdays may be celebrated as a part of the 
birthday recognition for the members of the department by 
singing the birthday song with baby's name added. 

Parents should be encouraged to bring their little ones to 
visit in the Beginners Department. They may have a spe- 
cial invitation on the Sunday nearest their birthday. Two- 
and three-year-old children should be brought more fre- 
quently, for going to the church school occasionally as a 
special favor does much to pave the way for the days of 
regular attendance after promotion. Sometimes the little 
ones are timid and cling close to mother. Then the less 
notice taken of them the happier they will be, but they can 
be welcomed by a general hand-waving when the Beginners 
are singing their own song of greeting. Sometimes the 
little ones wish to sit in the circle and take part in what- 
ever the Beginners children are doing. This is an oppor- 
tunity to express the lessons in kindness and hospitality 
and should be welcomed by the thoughtful teacher, even if 
the visitors are a little disturbing. 

Little children should be attending the Beginners Depart- 
ment regularly by the time they are four years old. Some 
parents are rather slow in sending them because they think 
them too little to understand the teaching or because they 
are fearful of disturbing the class. At this time an invita- 
tion to join the department may well come from the Be- 
ginners superintendent. The promotion certificates are 
often reserved to be presented at the public promotion 



66 THE CRADLE ROLL MANUAL 

service of the school. But the fourth birthday remembrance 
may be sent by the Beginners superintendent and may be 
a letter to the child himself, the burden of which should be 
like this, "Now that you are a big boy, four years old, you 
may come to the church school every Sunday. Ask mother 
to bring you," etc. To make the child wish to come is the 
most effective way of overcoming any prejudices which the 
parents may have and so win for him the advantage of 
early religious training, which is his right as God's little 
child. 

By recognition at festival seasons. Children's day or 
Sunday school day. It is the custom in many churches to 
have infant baptism at the Children's-day service. Whether 
this is true or not, it is in keeping with the spirit of the day 
to give the Cradle Roll a prominent place in the service. If 
nothing else is done, the wall roll may be decorated with a 
spray of flowers and hung in the church auditorium in a 
conspicuous place. 

The babies who have been enrolled during the year may 
be brought before the pulpit for a welcome service. The 
few words of introduction by the Cradle-Roll superin- 
tendent may be followed by a prayer by the pastor and then 
the Cradle-Roll song, or an arrangement of "Suffer the little 
children to come unto me," may be sung by a member of the 
choir. Or the Primary and Beginners Departments may 
sing a lullaby while a tiny girl from the Beginners class 
gives every baby a rosebud from her pretty basket. It 
would be permissible to do the same thing for all the 
babies enrolled, calling it a recognition service. 

Some churches have the custom — and a very pretty one 
it is — of giving each baby a little potted plant. If the pots 
are covered with white crepe paper, they add to the deco- 
ration on the pulpit. They are distributed at the close of 
the service or sent home by a messenger. 

One day a minister's wife climbed upstairs to the top 
floor of a tenement to call on an Italian mother whose 
baby had just gone to the heavenly home. She found her 



MAINTAINING THE INTEREST 67 

watering a tiny plant in the window sill, the only bit of 
beauty to be seen in the room. "I take gooda care," she 
said brokenly, "It was hers — from the church." The 
minister's wife remembered that she had had to use all 
her persuasive powers to get for the Cradle Roll of the 
Italian Mission the same flower remembrances which had 
been given to the church babies year after year, and had 
accomplished it for the first time on the Children's Day 
just three months past. Was it worth while to increase that 
florist's bill by ordering thirty more pots? 

Christmas. The Cradle-Roll babies should never be for- 
gotten at the season when all the world turns in memory to 
the Babe of Bethlehem. They may be given invitations to 
the Beginners party or they may have a party by them- 
selves. More important than the party is the gift. It need 
not be elaborate to please the tiny ones. A ball, a pair of 
horse reins, a picturebook or a floating toy for the bath — 
any one of these is inexpensive. Better still, make the 
Cradle Roll a means of teaching service by having the older 
boys and girls make the gifts. They will have a good time 
and it will save the church school pocketbook. 

A picturebook will be acceptable to babies big or little. 
A scrapbook made of window shading is attractive and 
durable enough for a baby's clumsy fingers. Shade-makers 
sell their scraps for a mere nothing, and so are often will- 
ing to give them away. Colored pictures look best on the 
various shades of tan. Fold the shading in a convenient 
size and stitch on the machine at the folded edge. Trim 
the pages evenly after the stitching is done. Juniors will 
delight in the work of cutting pictures and filling the books. 

The rag doll has long been childhood's most beloved com- 
panion. One may be very easily made by using a stocking, 
and it may be stuffed with cotton waste which may be 
bought at any hardware store and is much cheaper than 
cotton batting. Here is work for the 'teen-age girls. Stuff 
the toe of the stocking until it is firm enough to make the 
head. Tie at the neck, then stuff the body. Arms and legs 



68 THE CRADLE ROLL MANUAL 

are made from narrow pieces, stuffed and sewed on in 
place. The hair is made of yarn. The features may be put 
in with embroidery silk and a needle or the eyes may be 
made of shoe buttons. The shoes are fashioned from a bit 
of old kid glove. All sorts of scraps of goods may be used 
for the dressing. A very charming dolly may be made from 
a pair of child's socks. One makes the doll while the 
colored tops are used for a sweater suit and cap. A very 
soft, tumbling doll for a little baby is dressed in a clown 
suit. Make him armless and legless by stuffing only 
the foot of a stocking and tying at the neck. Cut his 
suit of nursery cretonne, making it many sizes too large 
for him. Fasten at the neck with a ruff. Stuff small bits 
of stocking in ball shape. Pink and then gather his sleeves 
and trouser legs, fastening in the little balls for hands and 
feet. Give him a pointed cap with a bell on it. 

A pair of horse reins is a happy thought for the toddler. 
They may be made of cotton roving, a heavy cotton rope which 
comes in various pretty colors and can be procured from the 
kindergarten supply houses. The easiest method for mak- 
ing is a chain stitch done with the fingers. Another way is 
to braid, using four strands. The flattest, strongest roping 
is made with a buttonhole stitch. Tie three strands together 
at the end and slip over a hook at a convenient place so that 
the work can be held tight. One strand is used to build on. 
The other two should be of different colors, for example, 
blue and white, to make a pretty pair of reins. Take the 
blue strand and slip it over the foundation strand which is 
held tight, so that a button hole stitch is formed. Then take 
the white strand and do the same at the other side, and so 
continue, first the blue and then the white, blue to one side 
and white to the other, holding the foundation strand tight 
all the while. Two stitches may be made with one strand 
and then two with the other, or three with one and then 
three with the other if preferred. When the reins are fin- 
ished fasten a few tiny bells to the breast piece. 

Promotion day. In the graded church school the last 



MAINTAINING THE INTEREST 69 

Sunday in September is commencement day. Promotions 
may then be made and the new year of work begun October 
first. While the age for promotion from the Cradle Roll is 
four, there is no law which says that the doors of the Be- 
ginners Department are not to be opened to the child who 
has not reached that birthday. Neither must the child who 
has attained that number of years wait several months until 
the public Promotion Day comes before he is admitted. All 
the children who have begun to attend regularly during 
the spring and summer, as well as those who are to come 
in the fall, may have recognition on Promotion Day. It is 
impossible and unnecessary to have these tiny tots attempt 
to take any part in the program. To have them tumble up 
the pulpit steps and look out over the audience with their 
round eyes while the pastor gives to each one his certificate 
of promotion is quite enough to ask. Sometimes a flower 
is used instead of the certificate. The Beginners' Depart- 
ment may sing a welcome song, and a few representatives 
of that class may appear on the platform to take the new 
members by the hand and lead them down the steps and 
to their seats. 

Cradle-Roll day. Many schools give the babies one day 
in the year for their very own. The aim of such a day is 
to present the work to the church members and remind 
them of their responsibility. Invitations are sent asking 
both father and mother to be present and bring the baby. 
A recognition service such as was suggested above for 
Children's Day is a dignified way of celebrating the day, 
whether it takes place at the hour of the morning service or 
during the worship period of the church school. The 
potted plants suggested above may be used for gifts at this 
time. The superintendent may take this opportunity to 
make a report on her year's work and the pastor may desire 
to speak upon Christian training in the home. 

Your school may take part in the June Walk or Church 
School Parade in your community. If this is true, the babies 
must have a part in it. This is easily accomplished, for each 



70 THE CRADLE ROLL MANUAL 

baby has his own carriage to ride in, and if the mothers 
wish to give a little time and thought to decorations, it 
can be made the most attractive section of the marching 
line. Perhaps your school gives you no such excuse for 
bringing your Cradle Roll before the public eye. Then 
have a baby parade all by yourself. Cradle-Roll Day need 
not take place on Sunday. This is a delightful way to 
celebrate it. The end of the line of march may be in the 
park or on the church lawn where simple refreshments may 
be served. It will be much more interesting if the Cradle- 
Roll superintendents of the neighboring churches will join 
with you, so making it a community affair. 

Special days other than these mentioned here may be cele- 
brated in a social way. Whatever the church school does, 
from the Christmas festival to the picnic in the summer, 
the babies must have a part in, and the parents must be 
made to feel that their little one "belongs." There is just 
one way to maintain the interest of the parents and that is 
by showing interest in all that pertains to the welfare of 
the child. It embraces all kinds of activities from mothers' 
meetings to pleasant social afternoons both indoors and out. 
It means helping the mothers with their own problems and 
then leading them on to help other mothers with theirs 
through the constant touch of the church upon the home. 

SUGGESTIONS FOR FURTHER STUDY 

Make a program for a Cradle-Roll Party. For helpful 
suggestions see Children's Parties for the Sunday School, 
by Lottie E. Fitch. 



CHAPTER VII 

THE CRADLE ROLL CLASS IN THE CHURCH SCHOOL 

If we build earnestly and thoughtfully from the begin- 
ning, though our work may be surrounded by sands, the 
sand will take the shape of our foundations, and through 
everything shifting and mistaken there will stand firm the 
solid strength of a right beginning. — Mrs. Burton Chance. 1 

Although the age for promotion from the Cradle Roll 
is four there can be no hard-and-fast-rule about the entrance 
of the child in the church school. Children vary greatly in 
their development, and parents have different ideas about 
the importance of definite religious instruction during the 
early years. While the aim should be, "Every child en- 
rolled in a Beginners class when he is four," the church 
has no right to say that she does not want him until he 
is four. 

In these early years, during which growth proceeds by 
giant strides, the child becomes a new being every few 
months. For the sake of his own best interests and also 
the interests of the Beginners class into which the baby 
of three comes, some special provision must be made. 
The three-year-old enters the church school a bundle of 
hungry senses. Everything in his home environment has 
been looked at, smelled, fingered, mouthed, pushed, pulled, 
and hustled about. He has spent three years at this ab- 
sorbing business and most of what he knows has come to 
him as a result of such investigations. It is an excellent 
method of learning. It insures results, it is in harmony 
with the supreme desire of his life — to be active — and each 
experiment suggests the next, so there is provision for his 
constantly growing powers. He has no notion of laying 
aside his method of learning when he discovers himself in 



1 Self-Training for Mothers, J. B. Lippincott. 

71 



72 THE CRADLE ROLL MANUAL 

a new environment — a church schoolroom. The doings of 
people are no less interesting to him as suggestions for 
activity than are inanimate things. He unconsciously imi- 
tates facial expressions, he attempts to say every word he 
hears even though it has no meaning for him, and he does 
what he sees others do. The amusement of watching older 
people make changes in the relations of things as they go 
about their work in his presence lasts but a brief while. He 
prefers to try to do it himself in order to get the feeling 
of active power. For this reason he cannot listen to a 
story very well. He will interrupt by beginning to tell 
something which happened to him, he will try to repeat 
some of the words which catch his ear, and if his muscles 
call for exercise he will get up to wander about the room, 
or if some interesting object attracts his eye he is off to 
investigate. 

The Beginners child, of four and five years, shows many 
of the same characteristics, it is true, but his activity is not 
so impulsive, his investigations with objects show some 
power to reason, and he selects the activities which he imi- 
tates. The experiences of others can be enjoyed by means 
of the power of imagination. He not only possesses suffi- 
cient concentration to listen to simple stories but he is con- 
stantly demanding them. He adds to his store of knowl- 
edge by personal investigation and by using his senses and 
by imitation of others, but also by asking questions, and as 
the months go by his questions grow more and more in- 
telligent. 

Clearly, these two different little personalities, the Cradle- 
Roll child and the Beginner, cannot be ministered to in the 
same environment and by the same teaching material, nor 
will the same activities appeal to both. Some special pro- 
vision for the little child must be made, not only because he 
is disturbing when in the Beginners class, but because his 
presence in the church school should be looked upon as an 
opportunity for religious nurture. 

The lessons. The Christian religion involves a double 



THE CRADLE ROLL CLASS 73 

relation on the part of the individual — his fellowship with 
God the Father and with other children of God in human 
society. Christian education comprises a growing inter- 
pretation of God and practice in entering into social rela- 
tionships with one's fellows. The interpretation of God 
broadens and deepens and the contact with society becomes 
more effective with the growth of experience. Do these 
definitions seem to be far beyond the needs and the ca- 
pacities of tiny three-year-old children? Not if we keep 
within the realm of their interests and experiences. Doc- 
tor Dawson says 1 that "everything in a child's surroundings 
should be interpreted religiously." What are the things 
which make up a little child's surroundings? His home, the 
members of his family, his food, his clothes, his toys, his 
pets, the growing things in his dooryard, his friends and 
the people who render service for the family. His inter- 
pretation of God must come through these. A conscious- 
ness of the heavenly Father comes through the under- 
standing that such daily benefits as the cup of milk, the 
warm coat, and the beautiful flower are the gifts of God. 
Nor can these blessings come to him without his mother 
and the cook and the milkman who faithfully serve him. 
These, with his sister, his playmate, the visitor in the 
family, and even his dog comprise the social contacts in 
which he can express his religion in kindliness and help- 
fulness. 

This is the basic theory on which Miss Frances Weld 
Danielson has constructed her course of lessons for these 
wee children, entitled Object Lessons for the Cradle Roll. 
It is the first definite attempt to make a curriculum for 
three-year-olds. There is material here for fifty-two Sun- 
days, but the lessons are not seasonal and may be begun at 
any time. The stories are exceedingly simple, the element 
of repetition is prominent, and there is much use of 
rhythmic phrases. In stories for little children these 



1 The Child and His Religion, George E. Dawson. University of Chicago 
Press, 



74 THE CRADLE ROLL MANUAL 

are essential. There is just one Bible story — that of the 
Baby Jesus, to be told at the Christmas season. While there 
are abundant suggestions for conversation, play, the use of 
the blackboard, and simple songs, it is intended that these 
shall be used with great freedom and adapted to the needs 
of each group of children. 

When the class meets in the Beginners room. Very 
often the entire separation of the little three-year-old chil- 
dren from the Beginners' class cannot be realized because 
a separate room is not available. In this case it is impos- 
sible to give these wee children the freedom which should 
be theirs. But they may have a pleasant corner behind a 
screen which is their own, they may have teaching material 
which is adapted to their needs and interests, and they may 
have comfortable chairs. To be comfortable for them a 
chair needs to be lower than a Beginners chair, and the 
seat must be narrow from front to back so that the shoulders 
may rest easily against the back support and the feet rest 
flat on the floor at the same time. 

When these two classes meet together it seems impos- 
sible to avoid some formality. It is only natural that the 
whole group should come together for the greeting, the 
opening prayer, the recognition of birthdays, and the of- 
fering. The activities and interests of the Beginners 
children will take precedence during the circle talk and 
the play, so just before this the three-year-old children may 
carry their chairs to their own corner behind the screen 
where they may follow the lead of their own interests. 
The Cradle-Roll story may well come at this time and 
with it rhymes, songs and very simple prayers, not for- 
getting to use every opportunity to lead the children to ex- 
press themselves either in conversation or play. 

These babies will not listen for very long, so that when 
this is completed the clock will probably say that it still 
lacks twenty minutes or more of the time for dismissal. 
During this period give the babies as much freedom as is 
possible without disturbing the Beginners. A low table will 



THE CRADLE ROLL CLASS 75 

be a convenience about which the children may gather with 
picturebooks. (Three of the books given in the list in con- 
nection with Chapter IV will be very useful, The Farm 
Book and The Chicken World, by E. Boyd Smith, and Four 
and Twenty Toilers, by E. V. Lucas. Note the directions for 
homemade picturebooks given in Chapters IV and VI.) 
Even more attractive than a picturebook is a picture box. 
Fill a small, thin cardboard box with pieces of cardboard 
cut just the size of the box. Mount a picture on each piece 
of cardboard. The children will delight in handling these 
over and over, sorting them out and laying them on the 
table in long rows. If the pictures are classified, they will 
help the child in gaining ideas which may be used in the 
teaching. For example, one box may tell the story of 
mother's care, another of the helpers who serve the child, 
such as the milkman and the grocer, another may tell the 
story of his cup of milk, and another of children doing deeds 
of service at home. 

Both the blackboard and paper and crayon may be used 
for free drawing. The paper should be large, at least 9x12 
inches, and the crayons heavy. Other materials may be 
added at the discretion of the teacher, but a doll seems quite 
indispensable with this little group. 

If the church possesses a few square feet of grass, it 
would be much wiser to spend this last period in the out- 
of-doors, whenever the weather permits, rather than in a 
crowded room. From yellow dandelions in the spring to 
red leaves in the fall the children will find much of interest 
and delight, and a wise teacher knows that they are nearest 
to the heavenly Father when at play among his treasures. 

The class in a separate room. The Cradle-Roll class in 
the Beginners room is but a makeshift, so that the program 
as outlined above is far from ideal. Bringing the two 
classes together enlarges the group, and a large group of 
children always tends toward formality. When different 
ages are brought together in this way it is hard not to direct 
all the teaching to the older ones and give them the pre- 



76 THE CRADLE ROLL MANUAL 

cedence in the activities. The opening circle, when the two 
classes are together is usually presided over by the Begin- 
ners teacher, and she, quite unconsciously, reserves the 
informal conversation and play which relates to the teach- 
ing of her own group until they are by themselves. 

The ideal for these tiny children should be a homelike 
atmosphere. There is sufficient stimulation in bringing 
these babies, just out of the shelter of their mothers' arms, 
into membership in a group of those of their own age. 
Anything which savors of the formality of a schoolroom 
has no place in the nurture of this period of child life. To 
make the necessary freedom possible this class should be in 
a separate room. The group should be small, about eight 
or ten, and never more than fifteen. 

But four walls alone will never make a nursery where 
souls may grow. It is the personality of the mother that 
originates in the child his first and most permanent idea of 
God. The Cradle Roll class is but an extension of the 
home, giving to the child that religious nurture which 
many a mother is incapable of giving. The teacher should 
be filled with the mother spirit, and then her guidance of 
the children will be best expressed not by the word "teach- 
ing" but by the word "mothering." She is not to be an 
instructor if that term is used to mean a process of "pour- 
ing in" to a passive mind. She is not to be a bandmaster 
who is to "put her charges through" a set program at each 
session of the class. She is, rather, a friend and play- 
fellow, a sympathetic observer, a story-teller, a companion 
with a larger experience, the one who understands how to 
give of that experience at the right moment. The wise edu- 
cator is never "educating" from morning to night; at least 
it does not seem so either to the onlooker or to those under- 
going the process. She simply creates the supreme condi- 
tions for their growth, even as the divine Gardener bestows 
dew and sunshine. And her children grow all unconsciously 
under the influence of her serenity and wisdom. 

The definite teaching period, with the children sitting in 



THE CRADLE ROLL CLASS 77 

the circle, will not be longer than fifteen minutes for the 
first few weeks after organization. These tiny children are 
little individualists and have not many group interests. 
The telling of the story is the main object in bringing the 
children together, and the other parts of the program — if it 
can be dignified by that name — are grouped around that. 
There will be simple songs, not taught line by line and 
drilled upon, but sung to the children over and over, for 
they dearly love repetition, and because imitation is so 
strong and rhythm so appealing the little voices will soon 
come piping in with here and there a word. There will be 
conversation called forth by the subject of the story and 
in line with the children's interests and aided by pictures 
and blackboard drawings by both teacher and children. 
There will be simple dramatic play, for acting out an idea 
is part of its formation at this age. Professor Dewey says 
that "he acts it out before he really takes it in." We adults 
can sit by the fire with a book and the imagination will 
carry us where the writer wills. Not so the child. If his 
story embraces a ride on a railroad train he must put the 
dining-room chairs in a long row and clamber about them. 
The story may be told more than once if the children 
desire it. Often they will ask for the repetition of an old 
story. Throughout all of this there will be simple prayers — 
a speaking to the heavenly Father in a loving, friendly man- 
ner — most always not over a sentence in length. As the 
children's interests grow and they come to gain more 
pleasure from being together, this teaching period will 
lengthen somewhat but probably will never be longer than 
twenty-five or thirty minutes. 

While it is convenient to have the chairs placed in a 
circle there is nothing sacred about such a formation. If 
the chairs are in a circle, each child may see and be seen 
and may leave his place readily to take part in the plays. 
The circle makes each child feel his membership in the 
group because he may look into the faces of all the other 
children as he sits in his own little chair. But the all-wise 



78 THE CRADLE ROLL MANUAL 

God planned that the little child should grow both physi- 
cally and mentally by the exercise of his muscles. Legs and 
arms, feet and fingers itch for activity every waking mo- 
ment. Bringing the little child into the church school does 
not stop this craving. If the coming into the Cradle-Roll 
classroom means to sit on one's chair and fold one's hands 
for an hour, the three-year-old had better be left at home 
among his toys or in the freedom and the sunshine of God's 
out-of-doors. So even during the part of the hour which is 
termed the circle period there should be opportunity for 
frequent change of position. Play may be used whenever 
possible, the children may leave their chairs to gather 
around a picture or around the piano for a song or around 
the window to look out-of-doors, if clear glass and a low 
window makes this possible, and they love to sit on the 
floor close to the teacher's knee during the story. 

Even a superficial observer of little children will notice 
that they almost never go about empty-handed. Even when 
not at play the beloved rag doll will be carried to and fro 
about the house, often by one leg, or the little fingers will 
clasp a bit of bright paper or an advertising book which 
has been thrown in at the door, or some other treasure. 
Much of what a baby learns he learns through things — things 
to be handled and tasted, things to be pushed and pulled, 
things to be built up and thrown down, things to be used 
as stage properties about which to build his imaginative 
plays. If one could step from the schoolroom of twenty-five 
years ago, or even ten, into the modern kindergarten or 
First-Grade room as though across a hall, there would be 
one outstanding contrast. The old-fashioned classroom was 
furnished for passive listeners. The modern classroom has 
an abundance of materials and toys, for educators have dis- 
covered that children learn best through their own ac- 
tivities. The blackboard was admitted to the church school 
long ago, but not at first for the children's use. The little 
child has more power over the crayon as a means of expres- 
sion than he has over words. So have plenty of blackboard 



THE CRADLE ROLL CLASS 79 

space, placed low so that short arms can reach and let the 
children draw. A large sheet of paper and a heavy crayon 
may be used in the same way. While tables are a conven- 
ience they are not necessary. Little children play much on 
the floor, and a hardwood floor, clean enough and warm 
enough for the children to sit on, is essential for this class- 
room. Use the paper in the full wholesale size (22x28) and 
spread it on the floor so that several children may gather 
about and draw. We have used pictures in the church 
school but most often in the teacher's hands. Have the 
pictures in such form that the children may handle them, 
such as in the scrapbooks and picture boxes already sug- 
gested. 

The little child always uses the stories he hears and the 
life he sees about him as subjects for his plays. After he 
has heard the story of the cow who gives him his drink of 
milk he will take his toy cow and build a stable with his 
blocks and rehearse the story. Is such an activity inappro- 
priate for the church school? Not if we understand the na- 
ture of the child. A doll, some furniture and dishes will 
call forth many family plays, and loving service within the 
family and dependence upon helpers outside of the family 
are basic ideas in the Cradle-Roll lessons. As the children 
play they come to understand. An alert and sympathetic 
teacher who is ready with the right suggestion and helpful 
bit of material at the proper moment can make the chil- 
dren's free play yield much of value. Specific directions as 
to the selection and use of such toys cannot be given. Be 
open-minded, let the children have the things in their own 
hands, watch their activities and judge of the value for your 
own group. 

Such free play will call forth the children's ideas and will 
help the teacher to discover their interests. So this period 
of play may well come at the beginning of the hour. This 
arrangement has one great advantage in that each child 
finds something to busy himself about as soon as he enters 
the room. It helps the new child who is shy. It is easier 



80 THE CRADLE ROLL MANUAL 

for him to enter a playroom where each child is bent on his 
own interesting task than it is to be led to a chair in the 
circle with a dozen pairs of eyes fastened upon him. At 
least the first half hour may be used in this way, and then 
the period in the circle may follow so that the many sug- 
gestions, of the children's own, begun in the free period may 
be used as teaching material when they are gathered in a 
group. 

SUGGESTIONS FOR FURTHER STUDY 

1. Read Miss Danielson's description of a three-year-old 
in the introduction to Object Lessons for the Cradle Roll 
and compare it with the interests and capacities of the 
three-year-old whom you know best. 

2. Sit down with pencil and paper and observe a three- 
year-old at play, either among his toys or out of doors, and 
jot down every activity. If possible, count the number of 
minutes in which he is absolutely still. 

3. What are the essentials in equipment for a Cradle-Roll 
class in a separate room? Make a budget for a class of ten 
children. 

4. Make a study of the characteristics of a good story for 
little children as set forth in: 

Stories and Story Telling, Edward Porter St. John. 

For the Story Teller, Carolyn Sherwin Bailey. 

How to Tell Stories to Children, Sara Cone Bryant. 

Find illustrations for each one of these characteris- 
tics from among the stories in Object Lessons for the 
Cradle Roll, by Frances Weld Danielson. 

5. With the aid of Chapters IX and X in Studies in 
Childhood, by James Sully, make a study of children's 
drawings. Get some of the children of your acquaintance to 
make drawings for you and compare them with the illustra- 
tions found in that book. 

6. "Children should be quiet and reverent in the house of 
God on the Sabbath day." What arguments in favor of play 
can you suggest to meet such a statement? 



CHAPTER VIII 

NURSERY— MORNING WORSHIP OR CHURCH 
SCHOOL HOUR 

"He who places his hand on the head of a child touches 
the mother's heart." 

The need for establishing a church nursery varies with 
local conditions. It is the business of the Cradle-Roll super- 
intendent to study the needs in the homes where her work 
lies and rouse the church so that it will meet those needs. 
If there is any appreciable number of parents who are de- 
prived of attendance at public worship because of the very 
little children in the home, provision for their care should 
become a part of the work of the Cradle Roll. Sometimes 
when there is a Parents' Class meeting at the church school 
hour, or if any number of parents are attending the adult 
classes of the school, the nursery would be more useful at 
that hour. In some churches the nursery is kept open 
from the beginning of the morning church school hour 
through to the close of morning worship, or from the 
beginning of morning worship through the noon church 
school hour, as the case may be. Children are left for a 
part of the time or for the whole, as parents desire. 

The primary aim of such a nursery is not instruction but 
simply the care of children as a convenience. The ages of 
the children will vary somewhat, and the important thing 
is that each child shall be made happy and comfortable. 
For the little baby the morning nap is essential for that 
happiness and comfort and must not be interrupted. His 
needs for the hour that he is present in the nursery are 
two — a crib and to be let alone. The "creeper" has also 
just two needs — a warm, clean place to carry on his ex- 

81 



82 THE CRADLE ROLL MANUAL 

plorations and a few toys. The "run-abouts" will need the 
freedom of the room and some other toys. This ministering 
to the needs of each little individual is nurture in the 
highest sense. 

The older children of the group, those three and four 
years, will have other needs and present other opportunities 
for nurture. Interest in pictures is beginning. If the care- 
taker will sit down on a low seat with an attractive picture- 
book, the children will gather about eagerly. (For sug- 
gestive picture books see the list given in connection with 
Chapter IV.) Finger plays, appealing to the delight in 
rhythm which is so prominent at this period, may be used 
in the same way. While these tiny children cannot sit still 
and listen very long, still the interest in stories is just 
beginning. It must be a very short and simple story, con- 
cerning the things with which a little child is familiar and 
containing an element of repetition, and then the children 
will not only listen to the end but will give it their highest 
praise in the request to "Say it again." The main element 
in attempting any work with pictures, finger-plays or 
stories is that it be very informal and have a distinctly 
homelike atmosphere. It must in no way inhibit the free- 
dom of the children. They should be allowed to join any 
group and leave it again as their interests dictate. (A few 
books in which good stories may be found are given below. 
The stories mentioned particularly are merely suggestive 
of the type of story which these little people delight in.) 

The caretakers. To insure success the responsibility for 
the nursery should rest on the shoulders of one person. The 
director ought to be a motherly woman whom the babies 
will naturally love and whom the mothers will be willing to 
trust. Her assistants may be recruited from the women 
of the church and the girls of the church school. These 
may be divided into groups and take turns so that the 
burden will not fall too heavily upon anyone. 

Teen-age girls, with a little supervision, make excellent 
caretakers and play fellows in the nursery. The ideal of 



NURSERY 83 

our Christian fellowship is service. For the young girl 
religion must be active if it exists at all. A concrete pur- 
pose, that the elder shall serve the younger, with a definite 
task like this will attract the girl who desires to be a real 
help in a real world. 

The place. Ideally, the babies should have a sunny 
room, but in most of our churches this is impossible. Even 
in the suburban church the stained-glass windows decree 
that those inside shall not look out on nature in her beauty. 
But at any rate the floor should be warm, for such tiny 
children are safer and far happier at play on the floor. If 
possible, it is good to have the room of easy access so that 
carriages may be brought right into the room. 

Furnishings. The first essential is a special rug or 
blanket to spread on the floor. Our church rooms must be 
used many times during the week, and the floor of a public 
building even with the best of janitors, can never be kept 
clean enough for the use of creepers. The babies' own rug 
can be taken up and put away. A low table about which the 
older children may gather while looking at pictures or draw- 
ing with crayon is useful. A few of the tiny chairs used by 
the Beginners will be needed, but the very nicest arrange- 
ment for seating is a long, low window seat which a car- 
penter can build. If the seat is hinged it makes an excellent 
place in which to store toys, especially blocks. The children 
will love to clamber on such a seat and to build block 
houses on it and it is a cozy place to gather the children for 
pictures or a story. A cabinet will be necessary for keep- 
ing the toys under lock and key when the room is not in use. 
Two or three cribs are a great addition for the babies who 
are at the age when they consider sleeping the most inter- 
esting thing to do in this world. Harmonious colorings on 
wall and in furnishings always make a room beautiful and 
a few pictures, chosen to suit the children's interests and 
hung low, add to its attractiveness for them. 

Toys. The most practical toys, when they have to be 
used by many children and by children whose chief interest 



84 THE CRADLE ROLL MANUAL 

is to try to put everything which can be grasped into the 
mouth, are the toys which can be scrubbed. Rubber and 
celluloid dolls and animals can be washed after each 
nursery period and put away clean, ready for use next 
time. Household articles, such as clothespins and spools, 
may be easily renewed from time to time. The same is true 
of homemade rag dolls, such as are suggested in Chapter 
VI, as Christmas gifts. Many of the classes of older girls 
in the school would be glad to assume full responsibility for 
keeping the nursery supplied with stocking dolls. (For 
other suggestions for toys see Chapter IV.) 

Stories for very little children: 

Danielson, Frances Weld: Object Lessons for the Cradle 
Roll. (These lessons are not seasonal, and any single story 
may well be told in the nursery without interfering with the 
work of the Cradle-Roll class.) 

Palmer, Luella A.: Play Life in the First Eight Years. 
Note the finger-plays and the stories entitled "The Little 
Pig," "A Kitten Who Forgot How to Talk," "The Little 
Red Apple." 

O'Grady and Throop: The Story-Teller's Book. "The Go 
Sleep Story." 

Bailey, Carolyn Sherwin: Stories to Tell the Littlest 
Ones; Firelight Stories. 

Danielson, Frances Weld: Little Animal Stories; Story- 
Telling Time. 

Lindsay, Maud: Mother Stories; More Mother Stories. 

SUGGESTIONS FOR FURTHER STUDY 

Review two or three collections of stories and begin 
making a list of stories which are particularly good for 
very little children. 



CHAPTER IX 

THE PARENTS' CLASS AT THE CHURCH 
SCHOOL HOUR 

"A little child shall lead them/' 

Parents must of necessity bring little children to the 
church-school session. This is more often true in the case 
of young parents where there are no older brothers and 
sisters in attendance. These young parents, perhaps, have 
not entered the church doorway since the days of their 
teens. Marriage has changed the location of the home and 
the church of their youth has been left behind. The coming 
of the baby has made attendance, in the new place, impos- 
sible for a while. The little one's entrance in the school 
brings them back again, and the opportunity of renewing 
the interest in the school and in the church should be 
grasped. 

Some parents have never been churchgoers, but the Cradle 
Roll has already connected the home with the church 
through its interest in the baby. When baby has come oc- 
casionally to attend a special service they have been 
pleased and interested. The Parents' Class may be made 
the stepping-stone to a larger interest in the church. 

The adult classes already organized in the school do not 
provide just what is needed for these young parents. The 
Bible class of older people is so often just a Bible class and 
nothing more. The teacher, good as he may be, simply lec- 
tures on Sunday, and there is no social life. The teaching 
material does not meet the needs of the parents, and the 
absence of a social organization does not give a sense of 
ownership. The organized adult class of young people is not 

85 



86 THE CRADLE ROLL MANUAL 

the proper place either. The problems of these younger 
folks are different and the teaching material cannot well 
meet the needs of both groups. The parents' own organiza- 
tion seems most worth while to them. In such an organ- 
ization they may choose their own courses, be responsible 
for their own program, and conduct such social affairs as 
they like best. 

Organization. While organization is not necessary it is 
valuable. A simple form divides responsibility and gives 
every member his or her own part to do. A president, sec- 
retary, treasurer, and teacher are all the officers required. 
Two or three committees will be found helpful. A member- 
ship committee will see that the new parents in the church 
and school are constantly searched out and given invitations 
to join. Their other duty will be to look after absentees. 
Then there may be a social committee who shall be re- 
sponsible for the social life of the class, and a literature 
committee who shall see that needed references are bought 
or borrowed from the public library and shall gather help- 
ful pamphlets from hither and yon and see that they are 
placed in the hands of class members. 

Program. A hard-and-fast rule as to just what the con- 
nection between this class and any other part of the school 
shall be cannot be laid down. One point is essential — to 
give the class the maximum of time. When such a class is 
in the midst of a vital discussion they should not be asked 
to put it aside at the tap of a bell to listen to a superin- 
tendent review the lesson of some other class — a custom 
only too prevalent in church schools. If the class has its 
own room — and it should in order to do good work — the 
adjournment may be made by the vote of the members and 
a brief prayer is all the worship necessary at the close. At 
the opening, if the adult classes of the school could worship 
together, it might be well, but the spiritual needs of boys 
and girls in their teens and mothers and fathers cannot be 
met in the same worship period. When the class worships 
by itself it is natural that the class members control and 



THE PARENTS' CLASS 87 

lead the period themselves and this ministers to their own 
growth in spiritual things. 

It is an excellent plan to have the secretary keep a 
record of what is done during each class session, giving 
briefly the general trend of the discussion for that day. 
The reading of this record at the opening of the study 
period recalls the subject to mind, reviews what has been 
done, and makes it easier to enter upon the work of the 
hour. 

The teacher. The teacher of a class of this kind need 
not assume to instruct, and it is better that he or she does 
not. Some one should be selected who will study with the 
class and who is able to guide discussion tactfully. 

Courses of study. There has been a vast amount of 
religious teaching in the church school which has not met 
the needs of the pupils. The little child and the old man 
have been taught as if their problems were the same. The 
most vital problem of parents is the training of their 
children. When we realize that the home has a far larger 
opportunity to shape character than has any other educa- 
tional institution, we shall discover the close connection 
between the opportunity of the home and the responsibility 
of the church. The influence of the home begins early, it 
is a veritable laboratory for the practice of religion in life 
and for the formation of habits and it has a hundred 
chances a day to teach religious truths through the child's 
questions. The church has not these means of reaching the 
child at first hand. It must work through the parents. 
Parents have a divine vocation. Nothing is so vital to them, 
to the church and to the child God has given them to train 
as the study and discussion which will help them in this 
service. The time cannot be spent more worthily than in 
the study of the child whom the Master placed in the midst. 

Text books for the Parents' Class: 

Cope, Henry P.: Religious Education in the Family. 

Forbush, William Byron: Child Study and Child Training. 

Hartshorne, Hugh: Childhood and Character. 



88 THE CRADLE ROLL MANUAL 

Kirkpatrick, E. A.: The Individual in the Making. 

St. John, Edward Porter: Child Nature and Child 
Nurture. 

Weigle, Luther: The Pupil and the Teacher* (Use the 
section on "The Pupil.") 

SUGGESTIONS FOR FURTHER STUDY 

Make a review of one of the suggested textbooks, which 
might be presented to a Parents' Class to aid them in the 
selection of their course of study. 

Make a list of topics — about fifteen — for discussion in a 
parents' class. 

Under each topic suggest one reference book for study, 
noting the special chapter or pages. 

For each topic chosen select a short Bible passage and one 
hymn which would be appropriate for the worship period. 



CHAPTER X 

MOTHERS' MEETINGS 

Train the mother and you train the child. — Froebel. 

We must train the mother, for she must of necessity be 
the first educator of the child. Whether the blame is to 
be placed upon the home or the school, there are many 
girls who receive no preparation for the profession of 
motherhood until the little, new life is laid in their arms. 
Then they must learn from experience, and experience is a 
stern teacher. The trial-and-error method is a wasteful 
way of gaining knowledge. One may throw away the 
soggy doughnuts and resolve to do better next time, but 
with a human life every moment counts. The mistakes 
are impressed indelibly upon character and one cannot 
turn over a new leaf and begin again. Many an individual 
carries some physical weakness all through life because 
his mother did not know. 

A mother's work is continuous. No one can work at the 
same job for twenty-four hours a day and always be at her 
best. The majority of mothers need, first of all, a change. 
They need to get out of their four walls, to meet people, to 
exchange ideas with others who have the same problems. 
Even a brief excursion into the outside world will bring 
them back to the old task with a fresh energy and a 
broader outlook. If the Cradle-Roll mothers' meeting at- 
tempts no more than to give this opportunity, it does well. 
Nor need anyone think for a moment that such work is 
trivial. It reacts upon the child, and because it does it is 
the business of the church. 

Many mothers need a new vision and a chance to refresh 

89 



90 THE CRADLE ROLL MANUAL 

their spiritual lives. This may come through a bit of 
fine music or good literature or by the aid of a speaker 
who can make them see their everyday task in a new light. 
If the mothers are not getting this inspiration from any 
other source, the church must give it. 

Some mothers need suggestions and help in the care of 
their children. The scientific expert can bring them much 
in regard to physical care. The psychologist and the edu- 
cator stand ready with a wealth of advice concerning the 
mental and moral development. Mothers of a certain class 
need training in the care of their homes. They need 
simple lessons in hygiene and cleanliness. All mothers are 
glad to find new ways of doing things. Needs vary as much 
as people do, and the church, because of her interest in the 
child, must meet the mother where she is. 

For the occasional meeting, when there is no definite 
organization, or perhaps for a first meeting, the social 
meeting at the church is very effective. It is a good plan 
to have a little music or few selections given by a reader, 
a greeting from the pastor and spend the remainder of the 
time in conversation aided by a cup of tea and some wafers. 
Sometimes the mothers cannot come without the babies, 
and their care makes a problem. Or, rather, the care and 
entertainment is easy enough, for any class of young girls 
will be happy to render such a service, but the real problem 
is the separation from the mother so that she may enjoy 
the program without distraction. One Cradle-Roll super- 
intendent has a very ingenious method of managing this. 
The chairs for the mothers are placed in a large circle. 
Rugs and blankets are placed on the floor so as to make a 
warm, clean place where the babies may crawl. The circle 
is made with one open side which is placed right against 
the wide open doorway leading into the Beginners room. 
This room is arranged so as to appear as a palace of 
delights to the Cradle-Roll child. A doll's cradle and doll 
with a chair for a little mother in one corner, some blocks 
are tumbled on the floor in another and in the center of 



MOTHERS' MEETINGS 91 

the room is a cart with a string just waiting for a small boy 
to draw it. One table is strewn with delightful picture- 
books, another holds paper and crayon, another some 
kindergarten material such as large wooden beads to string 
or peg boards and there is an abundance of chalk on the 
low ledge of the blackboard. One must not forget to mention 
the little chairs. If the one who arranges the room is a careful 
observer of children, she will not put them against the wall 
in an orderly fashion but leave them out where the babies 
may push them about, and perhaps place them in a long 
line to make a train, for the joy of playing with twenty-five 
little chairs all at once cannot be experienced in one's own 
home. Many of the three-year-olds will quite forget mother 
in their eagerness to investigate these enchantments. The 
"run-abouts" will follow more slowly, but if the caretakers 
will exercise a little patience, all but the lap babies can be 
lured away after a bit so that the mothers are free to enjoy 
the program. When the refreshments are passed, the chil- 
dren who are old enough to want some of the "party" will 
be quite happy with a cracker, and the most careful mother 
cannot object to this. Should these pleasures fail to effect 
the desired separation, the mothers will have a happy time 
just watching the antics of their offspring in the middle 
of the circle and these will not interfere with a simple 
program. 

When a social hour is all that is desired sometimes the 
cozy "at home" at the superintendent's house is a very 
workable plan. It is especially good if the mothers do not 
respond in very large numbers. Nothing looks more for- 
lorn or is so sure to effectively banish sociability as a very 
small group of people in a very large room. If there is no 
small, prettily furnished room at the church, it is better 
to open some one's home where the mothers may be enter- 
tained in an informal manner. One Beginners teacher who 
failed utterly to rally her mothers for a formal meeting at 
the church was most successful with an "at-home" day 
once a month. If any of the children came, they were en- 



92 THE CRADLE ROLL MANUAL 

tertained upstairs by the assistant. Playing with the toys 

which Miss had played with when a little girl 

seemed to them to be a special delight and honor, as 
was setting the tiny table and playing tea party with milk 
and crackers. Downstairs sewing bags, conversation, and 
tea filled the hour, and soon the mothers became so much 
at home that their sewing bags often contained the family 
stockings. After the custom was well established the 
teacher began to read a chapter or two from a good book 
while they plied their needles. This directed the conver- 
sation which followed into more helpful channels and 
aroused an interest which led them to finish reading the 
book at home. In the beginning the books chosen were 
some of the works of fiction which portray child life with 
keen insight. From these they progressed to some of the 
child study books which are more popularly written, and 
later when interest grew a definite course of study was 
pursued. Suggestions for entertaining the birthday chil- 
dren and their mothers in this manner in monthly groups 
have been made in Chapter VI. 

There is always a place, both with or without an organ- 
ized mothers' club, for the inspirational meeting with a 
speaker and a conference hour or question box at the close. 
It is well to join with other departments of the school on 
such occasions, and if the meeting is held in the evening, 
the fathers, who are often neglected in our plans for the 
mothers, may be invited. 

An organized mothers' club always makes possible a 
broader plan and an extension of interests. With organ- 
ization the responsibility is divided so that programs of 
study and of service in the community may be carried on 
and the social needs of the mothers may be met through 
both of these other channels. Then there is often an oppor- 
tunity to connect the individual church club with a larger 
organization made up of the clubs from a number of 
churches or possibly from the whole town. Or the club 
may be enrolled with the National Congress of Mothers. 



MOTHERS' MEETINGS 93 

This organization will send literature, and such a union 
will be mutually helpful. For purposes of service in the 
community a connection with the local child-welfare organ- 
ization may be established. Possibilities vary in different 
communities. 

There are many plans for the study hour in the organ- 
ized club which may be made to meet the needs and the 
capacities of any group of mothers. A textbook may be 
used, but this demands a capable leader. (For list of text- 
books see Chapter IX.) The topics may be planned for the 
year by a program committee. For the presentation of 
some of these topics a speaker will be best, for others the 
mothers may prepare papers and carry on their own dis- 
cussion. One mothers' club has the topics printed in the 
form of a calendar, giving the dates for the meetings, 
which is convenient to hang up and will so serve as a 
reminder. With each topic is an apt quotation which 
gives one a glimpse of the keynote of the hour. With this 
there is a list of the books which are on the shelves of the 
club library and at the back there is a paragraph or two 
about teaching children to pray, some prayers for little 
children, and one prayer for the mother. 

An occasional story hour is both helpful and delightful. 
All the world loves a story, and while the mothers are en- 
joying the tales they may be getting story material for use 
with their children and also unconsciously picking up some 
tricks of the story-teller's trade so that they may be able 
to perform this duty more easily and in a better way. 

The church school teachers may help with some of this 
educational work. When the mothers of an entire school 
are united in a single club this is especially fitting. There 
has been much complaint concerning the lack of co- 
operation between the home and the church school. The 
blame for this condition must rest most heavily upon the 
school, for we have not taken the trouble to take the home 
into our confidence. We have not acquainted the parents 
with our purposes in the training of their children nor 



94 THE CRADLE ROLL MANUAL 

asked them to have any part in it. One school has an occa- 
sional demonstration of the various church-school classes 
at work. This is an excellent plan if it made a real demon- 
stration, where the class situation is reproduced as nearly 
as possible, rather than an opportunity to show off certain 
children. Another Beginners teacher tells the stories 
which she is planning to use with the children and teaches 
the songs. A better plan is to give a brief outline of the 
work for a certain period, including aims, the teaching 
materials to be used, such as stories, songs and memory 
work, and suggestions as to how the children may be 
helped in the home to live out the ideals which they are 
being made conscious of in the school. This will need to be 
done for each grade separately. 

No mothers' club will live long which lives for itself 
alone. Even the interest in the children will not hold, 
worthy as that aim may be, unless the sympathies are 
broadened to sense the needs of other children and the 
mother heart grows large enough to say, "Not only my 
child but any child." There is no end to the possibilities of 
service in which mothers may engage for other mothers 
and children of the community, and even of the world. 
Here are just a few. Your own neighborhood will present 
a dozen others. One club keeps a full layette on hand all 
the time which may be sent to a needy mother at a mo- 
ment's notice. As soon as the box has been depleted by 
giving away some or all of the articles a sewing bee is 
held and the set completed. Another has taken upon 
itself all the sewing for a maternity hospital. In one town 
there is an annual baby-weighing contest. The mothers' 
club takes charge of the room, pays for the services of the 
nurse, does the advertising, and keeps the records. Each 
year many more mothers from the lower side of town who 
need the help and advice have been reached by this scheme. 
One club, in cooperation with the Board of Health, main- 
tains a public-health center. Others have established baby 
clinics, using a church room but paying for equipment and 



MOTHERS' MEETINGS 95 

the services of the nurse from their own treasury. There 
are several towns that are enjoying the services of a visit- 
ing nurse just because the mothers' club worked hard to 
arouse public sentiment and in the beginning contributed 
a good share of the expenses. In one community the public 
schools provide classes in English, cooking, sewing, 
etc., for foreign women. During the sessions of such 
classes the children are cared for in the same building by 
volunteers from one of the church mothers' clubs. Another 
group of club members go to a Hungarian mission and 
teach the mothers there how to make children's clothes 
in the most economical and hygienic fashion. These are 
but glimpses of what others are doing, but a discerning eye 
and a sympathetic heart will open up pathways of service 
in one's own community. 

i 
Helpful Material for Use With Mothers' Clubs 

organization 

The Mothers 9 Club: How to Organize It and What It 
Can Do. 

How to Organize Parents' Associations and Mothers' 
Clubs. National Congress of Mothers and Parent-Teacher 
Associations, Washington, D. C. 

The Sclwol of Motherhood Booklet. Containing: How 
to Use the School." "How to Organize a Mothers' Club." 
"Constitution and By-Laws." "Suggestive Topics for 
Study." 

PROGRAMS 

Twelve Programs for Mothers 9 Meetings, by Elizabeth 
Williams Sudlow. For free distribution. The Board of 
Sunday Schools, Chicago. 

Plans and Programs for Mothers 9 Associations, by Mrs. 
W. P. Heath. 

Mothers 9 Club Programs. The Mother's Magazine and 
Home Life, Chicago. Two programs monthly giving 



96 THE CRADLE ROLL MANUAL 

questions to guide discussion, subjects for papers, list of 
helpful books for each topic, study pamphlets on each topic. 

Typewritten papers on child nurture prepared by spe- 
cialists. Over 100 subjects. Will be loaned; 1 paper for 
three weeks. 

List of subjects sent free. Address National Congress of 
Mothers and Parent-Teacher Associations, Washington, D. C. 

Outlines of Child Study, by William McKeever, giving 
programs and suggested references. 

Books referred to in the above list may be secured by 
addressing the publishers of this volume. 

SUGGESTIONS FOR FURTHER STUDY 

1. Make a short list of books for the library of a 
mothers' club. 

2. Make a program for a year, about ten topics, for a 
mothers' club. Under each topic give suggestions as to 
how it is to be worked out; if by a speaker, suggest the 
type of person whom you would try to secure; if by dis- 
cussion, give helpful references or questions which would 
guide such discussion. 



CHAPTER XI 

HELPFUL AGENCIES 

The mother's heart, it is urged, teaches clearly what 
she would do for and with her child, and the attempt to 
elevate an instinctive into a conscious procedure is as 
harmful as it is absurd. This objection scarcely merits 
a reply. Instinct has not prevented the Indian mother 
from flattening her baby's skull, nor the Chinese mother 
from cramping and deforming its feet, and all the scornful 
energy of Rousseau was needed to teach European mothers 
the evil effects of long, close swaddling garments. Since 
instinct has thus proved itself incapable of caring for the 
body, it is folly to talk about trusting to it the develop- 
ment of heart and mind. — Susan Blow. 1 

The percentage of unnatural mothers who willfully 
neglect their children is so small that it can be ignored. 
Most mothers desire the best and are not sparing of energy 
to attain it. Too often the cry is, after the damage is 
done, "If I had only known!" The schools have been lag- 
gards in making provision in the curricula for training in 
parenthood, and so most people enter upon the most im- 
portant business in life with little or no preparation. But 
in this century of the child the mother, even though un- 
trained, need not rely on her instinct and go blindly on 
repeating mistakes. The knowledge of the expert, the 
science of the laboratory, and the results of the experi- 
ments of others may be hers sometimes just for the asking, 
and a two-cent stamp will bring them to her door. The 
mother whose children have grown regards the mother 
with little children with envy as she says, "If I had only 
had all this help I could have done better," or "How I 
should like to do it all over again!" 



1 Symbolic Education, D. Appleton & Co. 

97 



98 THE CRADLE ROLL MANUAL 

But mothers are busy folk. Many of them stay so closely 
within their four walls that they do not even learn what is 
going on in their own community. In many homes maga- 
zines are noticeable by their absence, so mothers do not 
discover the treasures which printer's ink will supply. It 
is the business of anyone who is in contact with mothers to 
know about these sources of help. It is peculiarly the busi- 
ness of one who is in a position of leadership among 
mothers — the Cradle-Roll superintendent. 

Know your own community so that you can give infor- 
mation at a moment's notice. First, there are the agencies 
which will care for baby's health. Is a baby desperately 
ill? Who is the reliable baby specialist and what are his 
office hours? Which hospitals give especial attention to 
young children? What are the fees and the conditions of 
admission? 

Perhaps the family are unable to pay for the attentions 
of a physician. Most specialists maintain a connection 
with a free clinic. When and where? If you live in a 
city or town, your Board of Health does work for young 
children. At the baby clinics babies are weighed regularly 
and advice given as to diet and milk formulas are worked 
out. Where are such clinics held and at what hours? The 
milk stations will prepare the milk according to the doc- 
tor's formula, and it can be procured, a day's feeding at a 
time, properly bottled and ready for use for a small fee. 

The visiting nurse will come into the home and care for 
the baby as well as demonstrate to the mother and give 
advice when she is needed. A little urchin who came from 
the poorest kind of a home made the following announce- 
ment one day in kindergarten: "My mother bathed the 
baby herself this morning the first time. The nurse didn't 
come." The baby was more than three weeks old. What 
a luxury those attentions must have been for a poor woman 
who could not afford such care! How many hints con- 
cerning care had been given during those three weeks 
which would make baby healthier and happier! 



HELPFUL AGENCIES 99 

Some of your mothers may be working women. In that 
case you will need to know about the day nurseries. The 
Cradle-Roll superintendent, from her intimate knowledge 
of the homes, knows best when to advise free aid. While 
organizations should never relieve parents of their respon- 
sibility, still, if the child is losing its rights or really suf- 
fering, society must intervene. When such intervention is 
necessary, the younger the child the more potential the aid. 

Some of the agencies stand ready to do educational work 
with your mothers. Foremost among these is the public 
library. Find out what helpful books are on the shelves. 
Perhaps they will set aside a reference shelf for your 
Mothers' Club, or send to your club fifteen or twenty books 
at a time. Perhaps they will allow you to draw a large 
number of books on your own card for circulation among 
mothers who cannot go to the library. Libraries are con- 
stantly buying books. If the list on child care and train- 
ing is meager, suggestions for new books may be made. 

In many communities there are classes conducted under 
various auspices. The vocational schools have both day 
and evening classes in Home Economics, Home Nursing, 
Cooking and Sewing. The public evening schools present 
a similar program. Community schools of religious edu- 
cation for Sunday school workers are springing up here 
and there. Many of these have classes in child study, and 
the classes in method which pertain to young children 
will be helpful. 

There is no limit to the activities of women's clubs. 
Keep in touch with your local clubs and use what they 
provide whenever possible to broaden the lives and the 
interests of the mothers with whom you are working. A 
course of lectures that is far removed in thought, perhaps, 
from a mother's task will send her home to her babies with 
a fresher and deeper insight. 

And, most important of all, use the mails. First, use 
them yourself and find out just what helpful printed 
matter may be obtained. Keep samples and a list with 



100 THE CRADLE ROLL MANUAL 

proper addresses and prices for securing such material so 
that you can recommend. Some pamphlets may be bought 
in quantity so that you can keep them on hand for distri- 
bution. Funds set aside by the church school officers for 
the use of the Cradle Roll cannot be used for a higher pur- 
pose than for the education of the mothers of the babies 
whom the church calls her own. 

Pamphlets and Circulars which May Be Obtained from 
Child Helping Organizations 

The American Child Hygiene Association, Baltimore, Md. 
These leaflets are free: 

Motherhood. 

The Common Cold. 

American Social Hygiene Association, New York City. 

No. 60. The Mother's Reply, by Nellie M. Smith. 

No. 187. Prudery and the Child, by W. M. Gallichan. 

No. 189. The Matter and Methods of Sex Education. 

No. 217. When and How to Tell Children. 

No. 248. Child Questions and Their Answers, by Helen 
W. Brown. 

Better Babies' Bureau, Woman's Home Companion, New 
York City. 

Samples of these leaflets will be sent on request: 

Clothes for the Tiny Better Baby. 

First Short Clothes. 

Hints to Mothers Who Want Better Babies. 

Little Helps for Expectant Mothers. 

Smart Clothes for Maternity Wear. 

What Every Mother Wants to Know About Her Baby. 

Child Health Organization, New York City. 

Child Health Alphabet (Jingles for children, colored il- 
lustrations). 

Alphabet Cards (Same as book). In sets of 26. 

Child Welfare Magazine, West Philadelphia. 

Health Education League. Boston, Mass. Members 



HELPFUL AGENCIES 101 

entitled to a copy of each of the publications of the 
League free. Sample copies sent to any address on receipt 
of the price. Copies may be ordered in quantity: 

No. 1. Hints for Health in Hot Weather. 

No. 2. Milk. 

No. 3. Colds and Their Prevention. 

No. 8. The Care of Little Children. 

No. 11. Tonics and Stimulants. 

No. 22. Typhoid Fever. 

No. 29. Prospective Motherhood. 

Metropolitan Life Insurance Company. Free booklet, 
The Child. 

Mother's Magazine and Home Life, Chicago, 111. 

National Congress of Mothers and Parent-Teachers Asso- 
ciation, Washington, D. C. 

Parents y Duty to Children Concerning Sex. 

Russell Sage Foundation, New York City. 

The Care of the Baby. 

The School of Motherhood, conducted by To-day's House- 
wife, Cooperstown, N. Y. 

Baby's Layette and Baby's Bassinet. 

Feeding and General Care of the Under-Nourished Child. 

Feeding the Normal Child from One to Six Years. Free. 

The Baby's First and Second Years. 

The Expectant Mother. 

The Punishment and the Crime. 

The Story of Life (sex education for little children). 

The School of Motherhood Booklet (How to use the 
school). 

United States Department of Labor — Children's Bureau. 
This material is free: 

Dodgers — 

No. 1. Good Books and Pamphlets on Child Care. 

No. 2. The Care of the Mother. 

No. 3. Is Your Child's Birth Recorded? 

No. 4. Breast Feeding. 

No. 5. Bottle Feeding. 



102 THE CRADLE ROLL MANUAL 

No. 6. Preparation of Artificial Food. 

No. 7. Milk. 

No. 8. Feeding the Child. 

No. 9. The Care of the Bahy. 

No. 10. What Do Growing Children Need? 

Publications — Child Care Series: 

No. 1. Prenatal Care. 

No. 2. Infant Care. 

No. 3. Child Care. Part 1— The Pre-School Age. 

United States Public Health Service. 

Address Superintendent of Documents, Government 
Printing Office, Washington, D. C. 

Supplement No. 10. The Care of the Baby. 

Supplement No. 16. The Summer Care of Infants. 

The American Home Series, Norman E. Richardson, 
Editor. Abingdon Press, New York City. 

No. 3. Parenthood and Heredity. 

No. 4. The Roots of Disposition and Character. 

No. 5. The First Year in a Baby's Life. 

No. 7. The Education of the Baby Until It is One 
Year Old. 

No. 8. First Steps Toward Character. 

No. 9, The Second and Third Years. 

No. 10. The Education of the Child During the Second 
and Third Years. 

No. 11. The Mother as Playfellow. 

No. 12. Problems of Temper. 

No. 14. The Government of Young Children. 

No. 15. The Punishment of Children. 

No. 16. The Home Kindergarten. 

No. 18. The Nervous Child. 

No. 19. On Truth Telling and the Problem of Children's 
Lies. 

SUGGESTIONS FOR FURTHER STUDY 

1. Send 15 cents to the Superintendent of Documents, 
Government Printing Office, Washington, D. C, and ask 



HELPFUL AGENCIES 



103 



him to send you the pamphlet entitled A Tabular State- 
ment of Infant Welfare Work by Public and Private 
Agencies in the United States and find out what your own 
State and community is doing for the babies. 

2. Make a survey of your own community, listing — 

(a.) All specialists, medical and educational, who are 
engaged in the service of young children. 

(b.) All institutions, public and private, who render 
such service. 

(c.) All schools, libraries, or organizations that touch 
the lives of little children in any way or provide training 
for those who have little children in their care. 



CHAPTER XII 

OTHER CRADLE ROLL SUPERINTENDENTS 
AT WORK 

Thou Master Workman, grant us grace 
The challenge of our tasks to face; 
By loyal scorn of second best, 
By effort true to meet each test. 

— The School Hymnal, Milton S. Littlefield. 

Boys like to trade marbles; housewives like to exchange 
recipes; thinkers enjoy the give-and-take of ideas. Folks 
who are doing the same kind of work have a common 
bond of interest. It is always helpful to hear "how some 
one else does it." In order that you may have this oppor- 
tunity questionnaires have been sent to Cradle-Roll super- 
intendents both in this country and Canada. The report 
which follows is based upon one hundred of these answers. 

Seventy-five per cent of these Cradle-Roll superinten- 
dents make some recognition of each baby's birthday, most 
of them by sending cards. A few inclose a letter to the 
mother or an invitation to bring baby to the birthday 
service in the Beginners Department on the following Sun- 
day. One superintendent calls in the home on that day 
and carries a picture or a toy to the baby. A birthday 
remembrance is not a real greeting if it arrives after the 
birthday is past, so one superintendent suggests this: "I 
address all the cards for the month on the first and place 
the date for sending on the stamp corner, then I am sure 
of mailing them on time." 

Seventy per cent of the workers have a definite plan for 
calling in the homes, such as to enroll the new baby, to 
carry the certificate of membership to him, and after that 

104 



SUPERINTENDENTS AT WORK 105 

every three months or every six months and at other times 
whenever it is possible to be of service. For the most part 
the superintendents are doing this personally; very few 
rely on assistants. One adds a New Year's week call to 
the others during the year, and another says that she 
carries a flower to the mother whenever she calls on a new 
baby for the first time. 

There is some recognition of special days in more than 
half of the schools reporting. In most of these this means 
an invitation to the baby and his parents to attend the 
services on church holidays, thus identifying the Cradle 
Roll with the school. Several of these describe an annual 
consecration service. This takes place at the hour of 
morning worship. There is appropriate music and a 
sermon on the duty and opportunity of child nurture, and 
at the close the babies are brought to the front for a 
prayer of consecration. This is not to be confused with 
baptism, as all members of the Cradle Roll are presented 
each year. It is simply the church's recognition of her 
duty toward the tiniest members of the flock. 

Twenty-five per cent of the superintendents are trying 
to do educational work with the mothers even when there 
is no organized mothers' club. Some do it by sending lit- 
erature into the homes, some by suggesting reading, one 
by conducting a library, and one by encouraging the 
mothers to enroll in a University Extension Course. 

The most interesting attempt on the part of a Superin- 
tendent to be of service to the mothers and to make the 
Cradle Roll a vital part of community life came in a letter 
from Colorado: "This year at our County Fair we ar- 
ranged to have a tent put up for the convenience of the 
mothers of our Cradle Roll. We asked the Fair manager 
for the tent and he gladly put it up and floored it; then 
Mr. , of the furniture store, did all the fur- 
nishing for the tent free of charge; then we had a large 
canvas sign painted in the elementary colors, which cost 
seven dollars — the only expense. We asked two ladies 



106 THE CRADLE ROLL MANUAL 

of the church to be on hand each forenoon and two 
each afternoon, and they took care of the babies as they 
were left so that the mothers could get around and enjoy 
the fair." 

Less than half of the reports state that the work is 
financed by the school treasury. Less than fifty per cent 
are recognizing their duty toward the smallest members of 
the flock. About ten per cent depend upon money from 
the homes and one on the offerings taken at special 
services. Both of these seem just a bit like begging. A 
mothers' class cares for one and the birthday offerings of 
the school for another. One enterprising superintendent 
earns the funds. This may be a good plan as a tem- 
porary measure if at the same time there is an effort to 
educate the leaders of the church so that they come to see 
their responsibility. Six superintendents state that the 
expenses are paid from their own pockets, and one of them 
adds, "I consider it money well spent." It is money well 
spent, but contrast a report from a church which is facing 
squarely her task of the education and care of the young. 
"The work is financed through the church treasury. We 
have one treasurer and one fund only for all purposes in 
this church, so that a certain percentage of said funds are 
allotted to the Cradle-Roll work. We have our budget for 
the year and do our work accordingly." 

While only ten per cent have a definite organization of 
the mothers, almost half report occasional meetings. 
Many types of programs are given — speakers, question 
boxes, conferences, readings followed by discussion, papers 
by the mothers, story hours, and the study of a textbook. 
In several cases the mothers of the entire school are 
banded together. One school boasts a "Parents' Forum," 
and another happily terms their organization "Mothers of 
the Temple." Many church clubs have a connection with 
a larger organization — the City Mothers' Club, the Child 
Welfare Circle, the Child Welfare of the Woman's Chris- 
tian Temperance Union, and the National Congress of 



SUPERINTENDENTS AT WORK 107 

Mothers. In one town all three churches have united and 
formed one club. About twenty-five per cent report some 
provision for the care of children during the meetings. 
The activities which these clubs are undertaking in the 
service of other mothers and children have been reported 
on in Chapter X. 

There are Cradle-Roll classes in fifty per cent of the 
schools reporting. In one half of these the class is entirely 
distinct, having its own room and its own lesson — "Ob- 
ject Lessons for the Cradle Roll." Most of the others, 
on account of lack of space, are compelled to use a corner 
of the Beginners room and spend part of the hour with 
them although the Cradle-Roll lessons are used. In one 
school these babies of three must attend the opening 
service of worship of the entire school. We are glad it is 
only one. Poor babies! to have to sit still through a long 
prayer when muscles ache for exercise, fingers itch to 
handle, and curious eyes want to see. Within the shelter 
of their own classroom these very activities which they 
crave can be made to yield such wonderful results in 
religious development. 

There are many courses of lessons being taught which 
are ill adapted to the needs and capacities of three-year- 
olds. Almost every course for Beginners which is pub- 
lished is being used. Beginners courses were planned for 
four- and five-year-old children. There is a vast difference 
between the five-year-old and the three-year-old, and the 
same material cannot be made to meet the needs of both. 
In all these courses there are too many stories used, and 
they are not sufficiently simple for these tiny children. 
One or two teachers have gone farther astray and are 
attempting to use Primary lessons, planned for six-, seven-, 
and eight-year-old children, or even the Uniform Lessons. 

The most hopeful sign in these reports on Cradle-Roll 
classes is the wide use of materials — pictures and nature 
materials, paper and crayon and the blackboard, blocks 
and toys. This shows a growing consideration for childish. 



108 THE CRADLE ROLL MANUAL 

interests and an attempt to use the activities of the 
learners. 

Twenty-five per cent of the number are conducting 
church nurseries during either the hour of morning wor- 
ship or the session of the church school, and one nursery 
is open throughout morning service and the church school 
following. For the most part physical care is all that is 
attempted. One or two are using the Cradle-Roll lessons, 
not as a course but as single stories, and in some others 
stories are told and songs and finger plays used. Many 
have specially furnished rooms with cribs and in one 
there is a lunch of crackers and milk served to the older 
children about the middle of the morning. For play ma- 
terials, blocks, toys, picturebooks, paper and crayon, a 
blackboard, a sand table, and kindergarten materials are 
used. In one nursery each mother brings baby's own toys. 
For caretakers young women volunteers with teen-age 
girls as helpers are most popular. In one church this is 
the self-imposed duty of the. Home Department superin- 
tendent. In another the women's circle cares for it. In 
others the mothers take turns. A few churches are pay- 
ing a salary for such service. One of these has a trained 
nurse, one a kindergartner, and one a matron with experi- 
ence in a children's institution. One church is rarely for- 
tunate in having the students who are preparing to teach 
sent from a normal college as part of their practice work. 

Some schools conduct a church nursery occasionally for 
a special service if not every Sunday. One invitation to 
such a special service reads thus: 

Dear Mothers of the Cradle Roll: 

Do you think you could trust your baby with me a little 

while? Our minister, Mr. , Mrs. , the Home 

Department superintendent, and I have been making a 
lovely plan. On December fifth we are especially inviting the 
Home Department members and the fathers and mothers 
of the Cradle-Roll babies to the church service. 

Mrs. and I, together with other helpers, want to 

take care of the babies and little folks while you enjoy the 



SUPERINTENDENTS AT WORK 109 

service. We will reserve seats for you in the church just 
across the hall from where we keep the babies so you can 
slip out easily if you are needed. 

I have been thinking of this ever since our last party 
when some of the mothers told me how much they would 
like to come to the service. Will you come? I'll be very 
much disappointed if you don't. 

Begin to make your plans now. 

Sincerely yours, 



Cradle Roll Superintendent. 

About twenty-five per cent have classes for parents at 
the church-school hour. About one half of these are 
organized classes and as such have some social life and 
enter into projects of service both in the local church and 
the community. One such class has taken upon itself the 
furnishing and upkeep of all the children's rooms in the 
church school, providing the funds and giving the labor 
of their hands. Junior, Primary, Beginners, and Cradle- 
Roll rooms have handy cabinets, pretty curtains, and other 
things which the fathers and mothers see the need for and 
provide. Most of these classes have separate rooms and 
have their own service of worship in their own room. As 
study material the uniform lesson or other Bible lesson is 
used by the greater number, but a few, recognizing the 
obligation and the opportunity of parenthood, are spending 
their hour in the discussion of problems of child-training. 

These are very fragmentary glimpses of how others are 
solving their problems. Their problems are not like yours 
at first glance, but at heart they are all the same — a little 
new life in a home, not strong enough nor wise enough 
to demand its rights, and two parents who need a friendly 
handshake, a bit of encouragement, or perhaps some 
definite and practical help. All of this the church may 
give if she will. Is your Cradle Roll a list of names hung 
on the wall in a forgotten corner or is it a vital thing 
consecrated to this service? 



BIBLIOGRAPHY 

Suggestive References for Superintendents and Mothers 
Order from the publishers of this book 

EUGENICS 

Guyer, Michael F. Being Well Born. 

(Scientific and thorough but a practical reference book.) 
Saleeby, Caleb W. Parenthood and Race Culture. 

Chapter VII. "Heredity and Race Culture." 

Chapters XIII and XIV. "The Race Poisons." 
Conklin, Edwin Grant. Heredity and Environment. 

Chapter I. "Facts and Factors of Development." 

Chapter III. "The Cellular Basis of Heredity and 
Development." 

Chapter IV. "The Influence of the Environment." 
Castle, W. E. Genetics and Eugenics. 

Chapter XXIV. "Heredity of General Mental Ability, 
Insanity, Epilepsy, and Feeble-mindedness." 
Foster, William Trufant (Editor). The Social Emergency. 

PHYSICAL CARE 

Read, Mary L. The Mother Craft Manual. 

(Excellent general reference concerning all the ele- 
ments of child care and training.) 
Holt, Emmett, M.D. The Care and Feeding of Children. 

(Authoritative and widely recommended by baby spe- 
cialists.) 
Sadler, William S. and Lena C. The Mother and Her Child. 

(A comprehensive and very full treatment.) 
Scurfield, Harold. Infant and Young Child Welfare. 
Richardson, Anna Steese. Better Badies and Their Care. 
Brown, Daniel Rollins. The Baby. 

Ill 



112 THE CRADLE ROLL MANUAL 

Comstock, Sarah. Mother Craft. 
Smith, Richard Mason. The Baby's First Two Years. 
Tweddell, Francis, M.D. How to Take Care of the Baby. 
Cotton, Alfred Cleveland. The Care of Children. 

Library of Home Economics. (Note the chapter on 
"The Soother/') 
Winterburn, Florence Hall. From the Child's Standpoint. 

Chapter XXIV. "Baby Wants a Corner." 
Hutchinson, Woods. We and Our Children. 

Chapter II. "Babies as Bulbs." 
instinct and Health. 

Chapter XIV. "Children and Candy." 
Coolidge, Emelyn Lincoln. The Home Care of Sick Children. 
Leo- Wolf, Carl G. The Child in Health and Illness. 
Hill, Sarah C. A Cook Book for Nurses. 

(Baby feeding and recipes for invalid diet.) 



CHILD STUDY 



I 



Oppenheim, Nathan. The Development of the Child. 

(Authoritative on physical development.) 
Kirkpatrick, E. A. The Individual in the Making. 

Chapter III. "Stages of Development." 

Chapter IV. "The Pre-Social Stage." 

Chapter V. "The Imitating and Socializing Stage." 
Sully, James. Studies in Childhood. 

(Children's Ways is a brief of the above.) 
Shinn, Millicent Washburn. The Biography of a Baby. 
Crothers, Samuel McChord. Beside the Christmas Fire. 

Essay entitled "The Ignominy of Being Grown-Up." 

(A study of a little child made with deep insight and 
sympathy.) 
St. John, Edward Porter. Child Nature and Child Nurture. 
Hall, G. Stanley. Aspects of Child Life. 

"The Contents of Children's Minds." 

"Curiosity and Interest." 

"A Study of Dolls." 

"The Collecting Instinct." 



BIBLIOGRAPHY 113 

Harrison, Elizabeth. A Study of Child Nature. 
Norsworthy and Whitley. Psychology of Childhood. 
Lamoreaux, Mrs. Antoinette. The Unfolding Life. 

PLAY 

Stevenson, Robert Louis. Virginibus Puerisque. 

Essay on "Child's Play." 
Lee, Joseph. Play in Education. 

Part I. "Play is Growth." 

Part II. "The Baby Age." 

Part III. "The Dramatic Age." 
Palmer, Luella A. Play Life in the First Eight Years. 

Contains the theory of play, songs, finger-plays, rhymes, 
stories, games, handwork, suggestive toys and play- 
room furniture, and list of picturebooks. 
Forbush, William Byron. Manual of Play. 

Chapter V. "The Play of Babies." 

Suggestive list of toys. 
Gruenberg, Sidonie M. Your Child To-day and To-morrow. 

Chapter IX. "Work and Play." 
Hutchinson, Woods. Instinct and Health. 

Chapter XV. "The School of Play." 
Smith, Nora Archibald. The Home-Made Kindergarten. 

(Suggestions for hand work and constructive play.) 

EDUCATION 

Dewey, John. How We Think. 

Chapter III. "Natural Resources and the Training of 

Thought." 
Chapter XII. "Activity and the Training of Thought." 
Chapter XIII. "Language and the Training of 
Thought." 
O'Shea, M. V. Linguistic Development and Education. 

(Hutchinson, Woods. Instinct and Health. 
Chapter XII. "The Irrepressible Tendency of Babies 



114 THE CRADLE ROLL MANUAL 

Chapter XIII. "The Natural Growth of Children's 
Minds." 

MORAL TRAINING 

Abbott, Ernest Hamlin. On the Training of Parents. 
Mumford, Edith E. Read. The Dawn of Character. 
Fisher, Dorothy Canfield. Mothers and , Children. 

Self Reliance. 
Gilman, Charlotte Perkins. Concerning Children. 
Willson, Wilhelmine Putnam. The Child That Does Not 

Stumble. 
Betts, George Herbert. Fathers and Mothers. 
Gruenberg, Sidonie M. Sons and Daughters. 
Forbush, William Byron. Child Study and Child Training. 
Holt, Edwin. The Freudian Wish. 

Chapter I. "The Doctrine of the Wish." 

Chapter III. "The Wish in Ethics." 
Poulsson, Emilie. Love and Law in Child Training. 

Chapter V. "Early Virtues." 

Chapter VI. "A Few Hints on Keeping Christmas." 

Chapter VIII. "The Santa Claus Question." 
Wilson, Ella C. Pedagogues and Parents. 

Chapter V. "Points of View." 

Chapter IX. "Child Morality." 

Chapter XV. "The Children Themselves." 
Chenery, Susan. As the Twig is Bent. 
Winterburn, Florence Hall. From the Child's Standpoint. 

Chapter I. "The Real Home." 

• RELIGIOUS TRAINING 

Coe, George Albert. Education in Religion and Morals. 
Chapter IV. "The Christian View of Childhood." 
Chapter XII. "The Religious Impulse." 
Chapter XIII. "How the Impulse Grows." 
Chapter XVI. "The Family." 
A Social Theory of Religious Education. 
Chapter XI. "Children's Faith in God." 



BIBLIOGRAPHY 115 

Chapter XIV. "The Learning Process Considered as 
the Achieving of Character." 
Hartshorne, Hugh. Childhood and Character. 
Cope, Henry F. Religious Education in the Family. 
Danielson, Frances Weld. Ooject Lessons for the Cradle 
Roll 
(A series of fifty-two lessons for use with three-year- 
olds in the home or the church school.) 
Davis, Ozora. At Mother's Knee. 

(A collection of prayers for little children. Good ex- 
cept for "Now I lay me.") 

SEX EDUCATION 

Bigelow, Maurice A. Sex Education. 

Gruenberg, Sidonie M. Your Child To-Day and To-Morrow. 

Chapter XII. "The Stork or the Truth." 
Allen, Mary Wood, M.D. Child Confidence Rewarded. 

Teaching Truth. 
Cady, Bertha Chapman and Vernon M. The Way Life 
Begins. 
American Social Hygiene Association. Correct data 
of life histories of plants and animals, an introduc- 
tion to reproduction in human life, giving parents 
necessary scientific background for answering a 
little child's first questions. 
Morley, Margaret. The Song of Life. 
Nature stories for little children. 
The Renewal of Life. 

STORIES ABOUT LITTLE CHILDREN 

Vorse, Mary Heaton. The Very Small Person. 

Burnett, Frances Hodgson. The One I Knew Best of All. 

Hunt, Una Mary. Una Mary. 



